


her serene smile

by applesauce6



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Adora (She-Ra) Needs a Hug, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Angst, Anxious Adora (She-Ra), Catra (She-Ra) Needs a Hug, Comfort, F/F, F/M, Fantasy, Fluff, Human Catra (She-Ra), Lesbian Adora (She-Ra), Lesbian Catra (She-Ra), Oblivious Adora (She-Ra), Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:13:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 46,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27928828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/applesauce6/pseuds/applesauce6
Summary: Adora was crowned Empress of Eternia only two months ago and isn’t used to this drastic change in her life and just wants everything to be back to normal again, sadly reality doesn’t work that way. Etheria is healing from a harsh three long years of war with a kingdom who called themselves the Horde, who Adora despises. After a meeting with the Princess Alliance, the rulers of the main kingdoms of Etheria, Adora wanders around in the royal garden and finds a mysterious note, written by a certain someone who will be attending the annual royal banquet hosted by Adora’s kingdom. Adora politely writes back and maybe this will become a normal thing for her and her mysterious penpal? A Catradora medieval au story.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Angella/Micah (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Mermista/Sea Hawk (She-Ra), Netossa/Spinnerella (She-Ra), Perfuma/Scorpia (She-Ra)
Comments: 152
Kudos: 181





	1. a silver lining

The view from Adora’s castle window was always breathtaking to the young woman. Outside her window was the royal garden, filled with Etheria’s native flowers and even has a small vegetable garden that the royal chef uses to cook her meals. Butterflies danced around the flowers, making the scene look lively, even if it was just a garden, Adora could look at it all day. She sighed dreamingly to herself, as she sat on her windowsill, her chin resting on her hand while she hummed a soft melody. 

“You’ve been spacing out a lot these days, Empress,” a voice called out, Adora yelped in surprise and turned around to see a tall woman with chocolate skin and a buzzcut wearing a pale blue gown, “I did knock before I came in.”

Adora awkwardly smiled and stood up, “You know Madam Hope, I don’t think I can ever get used to the title, ‘Empress,’” Madam Hope crossed her arms and just stared at the young girl. The blonde coughed nervously, “Anyways…”

The woman walked closer over to Adora, “You’ve been looking gloomier these days,” Adora scratched her neck anxiously, “Is it because the suitors that have been chosen, do not match your taste?” Adora looked up at her advisor, absolutely flabbergast, she opened her mouth to reply, but Madam Hope just cut her off, “There’s many suitors across Etheria who would  _ love _ to get your hand in marriage, Your Majesty.”

The empress sighed and put her hand over her face, “I know that Madam Hope, but that’s not even the reason why-” she glanced at her advisor and saw her normal blank face that had zero emotions written on it, “Nevermind that, besides, I don’t  _ need _ a man to help me with anything,” she heard Madam Hope hum, “Anyways, what brings you here?”

“I just wanted to report that the rest of the Princess Alliance is waiting for you down in the dining hall to discuss this year’s guest list for the annual royal banquet,” Madam Hope announced. 

Adora’s eyes grew wide, she totally forgot about the meeting today! “Oh shoot!” Madam Hope raised an eyebrow at the informal language Adora was using. The blonde coughed, “I mean- thank you for informing me, I shall be on my way,” the advisor nodded calmly, Adora held up the ends of her white silk dress and ran down to the dining hall. As she was running, she heard Madam Hope scold her not to run down the castle, but being the rebellious young adult she was, Adora ignored her advisor. 

  
  
  


The empress opened the doors to the dining hall and sitting on the table were Princess Glimmer of Brightmoon, along with Glimmer’s fiance, Bow. There was also Princess Mermista of Salineas with her boyfriend, Seahawk, Princess Perfuma of Plumeria, and Princess Frosta of the Kingdom of Snows. Adora bowed to them, “Forgive me of my tardiness,” she looked up at the table and saw all of their eyes staring at her before they all roared into laughter. 

Bow chucked, “Oh please, enough with the formalities Adora, we all are friends here!” Adora smiled at him and walked over to her chair, right at the head of the table.

“I need a break from all the formal talk,” Adora sighed.

Glimmer looked at Adora, “So, how’s it like being the Empress of Eternia?” 

“Ooh yes,” Perfuma clapped, “Tell us all about it! You were crowned just two months ago, no?” 

Adora bit her lip nervously, “Look-”

Mermista groaned, “Being a ruler of your own kingdom isn’t even a big deal, like when my father retired and I had my coronation, it was  _ so _ underwhelming.”

Adora opened her mouth again to speak, but was cut off once again, “Look,” Frosta spoke, “maybe it’s because you are old, but I was just a kid when I took over my throne, it’s  _ too _ overwhelming for me!”

Seahawk and Bow looked at each other and exchanged a smile, they didn’t have to worry about ruling a kingdom, that is until they supposedly got married to their spouses. Everyone at the table started to talk over each other, the ringing in Adora’s ear grew louder and louder until, “I  _ don’t _ like being the empress!” she slammed her hands on the table, which got everyone’s attention. 

The room was dead silent, enough to hear the drop of a pinhead, Glimmer was the one who spoke up first, “W-what do you mean Adora? I mean I would  _ love _ to become a ruler of Brightmoon, but I also don’t want my mom to die,” the princess awkwardly laughed, “But, why don’t you like being Empress of Eternia?” 

Adora brought her face to her hands and groaned, “I mean there’s pros and cons to being an empress, the pros is that I can make change in my kingdom and my voice can now be heard. Back when I was just a princess, everyone ignored me and thought I was too immature to have these ‘big ideas.’ The cons are that I’m  _ so _ tired, mentally that is,” she looked up at her friends who were all watching her intensely, “It’s been two months of my coronation, that means it’s been a little more than two months since my mother’s death.” She tried hard to not cry in front of her friends, but tears already started to form from her eyes, “Ever since her death, it’s like everyone has forgotten about her, no one even talks about her or the sacrifice she made to end the war. Even just a few moments before this meeting, I was thinking about my mother and even Madam Hope, one of her closest friends, thought I was daydreaming and being gloomy since none of the suitors that she presented to me weeks ago was my taste. It’s just  _ so _ frustrating that everyone seems to have her out of their minds.” 

Glimmer stood up from her chair to walk over and embrace Adora in a warm hug, “Oh my god, I’m so sorry Adora,” Adora sniffled and bit her lip hard, still trying not to cry, “It’s not that we forgotten about Empress Mara, it’s just… we thought the topic is a bit sensitive.”

“We are deeply sorry Adora,” Perfuma spoke up, “It was insensitive of us to talk about your new title without acknowledging what happened to Empress Mara for you to get the title of empress.”

Adora nodded and wiped her nose, “It’s all right everyone,” she took a shaky breath, “Anyways, should we go over the guest list for the annual royal banquet now?”

“I think that will be the appropriate thing to do,” Frosta agreed.

Bow took out a scroll that was hiding in his bag and was reading it outloud, “So far we all are on the list, obviously. Princess Entrapta of Dryl, along with Princess Netossa and her wife, Princess Spinnerella, and a lot of nobles around Etheria as well,” Bow bit his lip and looked cautiously at Adora, “We also have the ruler of the Horde on our list.”

Adora’s eyes widened, “I’m sorry but can you please repeat the last phrase again?” 

The man cleared his throat, “We also have the ruler of the Horde on our list for this year.”

“But  _ why _ ?” Adora questioned, she looked around the table, no one dared to make eye contact with her, “Have you all forgotten who we fought during the three year war? It was the  _ Horde _ ! Lord Prime and his second in command, Hordak, threatened to take over Etheria! And yet they have the audacity to even be on the list of the royal banquet?!” 

Glimmer’s eyes averted to Adora, “Adora, I don’t like the idea too, the Horde did take away my father at the start of the war, but we don’t  _ have _ to invite them, we’re just going over the choices together since we are the Princess Alliance. But since your kingdom is hosting the banquet this year, you have the choice to invite them or not, they are just a suggestion.”

Adora huffed, “Well, obviously I’m  _ not _ going to invite them.”

Mermista groaned, “Haven’t you heard? There’s a new ruler for the Horde,” Adora looked over to Mermista, she peered at her other friends who nodded their heads, confirming that there was a new ruler. Adora felt a wave of relief wash over her, but new ruler or not, Horde is still Horde, they’re the bad guys. 

“Whoever they are, they’re still part of the Horde,” Adora said firmly.

Perfuma smiled brightly, “Well… maybe they’re turning a new leaf Adora, who knows maybe this ruler is a good one?”

Bow nodded, agreeing with Perfuma, “She’s right, turns out that the Horde only lost the war because there was an internal riot there. Turns out this underdog there, named Catra, didn’t like Lord Prime’s rule, so she conspired a group against him and the last battle that we fought, where we weakened the Horde with our troops, Catra used the fact that Lord Prime was weakened and slayed him and imprisoned those who agreed with Lord Prime’s dictatorship,” Adora rubbed her chin as she listened to Bow’s story, “Since she was the one who planned to plot against him, they unanimously crowned her ruler.”

Adora sighed, “That’s great and all Bow but-” 

“And get this, when she was crowned, apparently this is what she said, ‘Yeah, I don’t really like the title queen or princess, or even empress. Call me  _ Lord _ Catra,’” Frosta said excitedly, “Isn’t that  _ so _ cool?”

Mermista groaned, “Now I wish I called myself ‘Lord Mermista.’”

Seahawk wrapped an arm around his partner, “Now my dear Mermista, in my personal opinion I think Princess Mermista suits you quite nicely!” Mermista rolled her eyes and pushed his arm off of her.

Perfuma hummed, “But isn’t she in a scandal right now? It would be a bit controversial if we invite someone who is in a scandal over to the royal banquet. You know, some say that she’s a therianthrope.”

Frosta gasped in awe while Mermista just scoffed, “Oh  _ please _ Perfuma, that’s dumb even for you,” Perfuma let out an offended gasp, “Sure, Etheria is magic, but no one has been able to control that magic for ages! So it’s absolutely  _ impossible _ that Catra is a therianthrope.” 

Bow rubbed his chin, “No, no, it  _ could _ be true since there is another rumor that Catra’s advisor can control dark magic,” he leaned over to Frosta and grinned, “Some even call her ‘Shadow Weaver,’ since she can manipulate the shadows to her little spies.”

Frosta gasped in shock and Glimmer sighed, “That’s a great story and all but back to the  _ real _ talk and not all the magic nonsense. How do we know we could trust her? The Horde has been our enemy for  _ years _ , remember what happened to Empress Mara? To my father?”

“Yes that did all happen but come on!” Bow exclaimed, “She’s the one who  _ actually _ brought an end to the war!” the man immediately regretted saying that. The room was dead silent once again and he anxiously looked over at Adora who’s face went blank with emotion, “Adora I-”

“I’ll invite her,” Adora said sternly, “I want to know who this ‘Catra’ person is like.” She was having a hard time processing this, her mother, the one who sacrificed herself to put an end to the war,  _ wasn’t _ the one who actually stopped it? Instead it was a group of rebels who have? Then, was her mother’s death just pointless? She crossed her arms and sat up straight, “Well, I guess that’s a conclusion for the meeting, I’ll send out the royal invitation to those who are invited tonight,” she looked around, “Dismissed.”

  
  
  


Adora trenched up to her room and barricaded herself there. She walked over to her bed and collapsed on it, she looked at a black and white picture of her and her mother that was lying on her tabletop besides her bed, “Oh mother,” she picked up the portrait, “Being Empress is tough to be honest, everyone assumes that you have everything together since you are in a position with such power,” Adora touched her mother’s printed face gently with her hand, she smiled sadly at how happy her mother looked in the picture. Adora could tell that her mother’s brown eyes were sparkling with joy, even if the picture was in black in white, “How did you do it mother? You were always so strong, you barely hesitated too when you offered to use yourself as bait for the war. I mean, I  _ assume _ that you barely hesitated,” Adora sighed, “I wish you were here mother, I miss you.”

Adora got up from her bed and walked over to her desk. She took out a pen and papers and started to write the invitations for the banquet.

  
  
  


Adora woke up bright and early and got ready for the next day, after she put on a white gown with a red robe over it along with her crown, she went down to the kitchens to see what her server was doing. “Good morning Madame Razz,” Adora smiled, “It smells lovely as always in here.”

Madame Razz was an old woman who’s been working in the castle of Eternia even before Empress Mara was crowned. She also was the one who raised Adora the most, since her mother was far too busy leading an empire. A short old lady with messy white hair, wearing a pink robe underneath a white apron turned around and bowed in front of Adora, “Ah, Adora dearie! How have you been?” the chef turned back around and continued cooking.

“It was fine, I woke up earlier than usual to deliver the royal invitations that I have written last night to the neighboring kingdoms,” Adora yawned, “Is Madam Hope up yet?” 

The old woman hummed as she cooked, “I’m afraid not dearie,” Madame Razz got out a plate to put the food on and handed the dish over to Adora, “Eat up dear, I made your favorite!” 

The young empress looked down at her plate, it was the generic breakfast that Madame Razz always cooked for her, hot cakes, sausages, and eggs, but it always satisfied her nevertheless. Adora smiled at it, she wasn’t the type of empress who wanted everything to be fancy, she just wanted things in the castle to be casual, like how it was back when she was a mere princess. “Thank you Madame Razz,” she smiled thankfully at the woman.

The woman smiled back and leaned up to kiss Adora’s cheek, “If you need me dearie, I’ll be in my study, Loo-Kee always gets in trouble if I’m not around,” Adora smiled, as much as she adored Madame Razz, she had to admit, the woman was pretty kooky. She nodded and walked to the dining hall, not so far from the kitchen, and started to eat her breakfast. After she finished eating, she put her plate away, since she didn’t want Madame Razz to do more work. Adora cared about her staff dearly, so she tried her best to not create too much work for them. After she put her plate away, Adora wandered outside and decided to take a stroll in the garden.

It drizzled lightly last night, so the morning rays from the sun beamed on the remaining droplets that were left on flower petals. Adora sat on a stone bench and admired the scene, “Hm, maybe there should be a memorial for my mother here in the garden?” she softly smiled to herself, “This was her favorite place to be after all.”

“Adora!” a voice yelled from the distance, the empress snapped her head to where the voice echoed from and saw her friend, Princess Glimmer, strutting towards her, “There you are! I’ve been looking  _ everywhere _ for you!”

The blonde stood up from the bench, “Glimmer! I didn’t know you were stopping by today.”

The shorter girl smiled sheepishly, “Bow is visiting his fathers over the weekend and I went with him to drop him off at his family’s library. On the way back I decided to just drop by and just see how you were holding up.”

Adora rolled her eyes playfully, “Glimmer, we just saw each other yesterday!”

“Oh come on, we’re friends after all,” she shrugged, Glimmer went and sat down on the stone bench, “So, did you send out the invitations yet?”

“Yes,” Adora sat down next to her friend, “I don’t know if this banquet will be any good this year, usually my mother planned these big events,” she sighed, “I feel so  _ useless _ , I can’t do anything.”

Glimmer put a hand on her friend’s shoulder, “Don’t say that, look it’s alright, you’ve only been empress for two months! It takes a while to get used to such a big change like this,” Adora smiled gratefully at her friend’s advice, “Plus, if you need any help, you always have me, Bow, and all the other princesses!”

Adora chuckled, “Yes, you’re right, plus the banquet is in a month, I have time,” Glimmer gave her friend an encouraging thumbs up. The two got up and started to walk around the garden, as they talked about their own interests, but mostly Glimmer gave Adora advice about mourning a loved one, since she also lost a guardian during the war.

After walking circles around the garden, they walked back to the stone bench and saw a magnificent, large brown cat sitting on it, licking its paws. “A cat!” Adora said joyfully, “My goodness, it’s beautiful,” she crept cautiously towards the feline.

“Be careful! It might be feral!” Glimmer warned.

_ Will it let me touch it? _ Adora thought as she reached out a hand, immediately, the cat stopped licking its paws and looked up at Adora, memorizing the empress with its mismatched eyes. One of them being golden brown and the other being ocean blue. Adora flinched when the cat looked up at her. Gracefully, it jumped down the stone bench and sat in front of Adora’s feet. The empress knelt down in front of it and scratched the cat’s ear, she could feel the loud purring of the cat vibrating from her hands. 

Glimmer stepped forward and observed the two, “Oh how charming! It seems to have taken a liking to you Adora!” 

The blonde hummed, “Does it?” her hand moved down from the cat’s head to the neck, Adora’s eyes widened as she saw a note tied around the feline’s neck by a string, “Oh what’s this?” She carefully untied the string around the cat’s neck and opened up the note. 

_ To whoever sees this, I am a guest from abroad, who will be arriving at this year’s royal banquet at the kingdom of Eternia. I shall also note that I am writing this note while drunk.  _

Adora chuckled at the note, “It seems that this cat belongs to a nobleman of some sort.”

Glimmer peered at the note, “This person will be coming to the banquet? Oh you  _ must _ write back at once!”

“I suppose that’s the polite thing to do…” Adora muttered, she reached into her dress and got out a pen, she always kept one in case since Madam Hope instructed her to, just in case she needs to sign something. 

Adora scribbled on the back of the note,  _ Your cat has found their way to me. I do hope it finds its way back to you, if it does, I shall be relieved, since it has proven it must be more clever than its drunken master.  _ Adora tied the note back around the cat’s neck, “Well that’s my response,” the cat purred and rubbed against Adora’s hand as she tied the note.

“Ah, it’s so charming!” Glimmer repeated, “Maybe I should get my own cat,” she joked.

The blonde pet the cat’s head one last time and then the feline ran out of the garden, “Let’s hope it will run back to its master. Maybe it will visit me again?” Adora wondered out loud. 

  
  
  


The cat was running towards the Fright Zone, the Horde’s territory, it gracefully climbed up towards a window on the top of a castle. It jumped into the window and there was a puff of smoke that formed behind it. Claws turned into hands that had long nails with black polish painted on it, the brown fur turned to soft tan skin, and paws turned into feet. A figure emerged from the smoke and grabbed a silk red bathroom that was hanging on a chair. She was an average height with long brunette hair flowing behind her back, she had mismatched eyes, same as the cat, and the girl had a mischievous smirk that showed her sharp canines. 

The brunette tied the robe around her nude body and took off the note around her neck and read it. She smirked, “So it seems I must cleverly find my way back to you if I want to see you again my queen.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew back with another fanfiction! Just right off the bat, this story is inspired by the webtoon, “The Remarried Empress” the part about the secret notes and how Catra is a shapeshifter is inspired by that webtoon, so you guys should really check that webtoon out it’s one of my favorites and it’s just great! Anyways hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter of this new fanfiction! About the update schedule, if you are familiar with my other works, I upload a chapter daily, i’m not sure if I will do the same for this story but i will for sure try my best to upload a chapter whenever i can! and as always please leave a comment of your thoughts down below just so i can see how well the audience enjoys this piece of writing! Hope everyone has a good morning/afternoon/evening! :)


	2. reminiscing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it seems like empress adora has a secret admirer, empress adora visits a dear friend

Adora sat on her desk as she wrote in her notebook, she sighed, “Planning is a lot harder than I thought it would be,” she thought back to when Glimmer told her that Adora’s friends would be there for her whenever she needed help. The empress shook her head, “No, no I can do it myself,” after 5 minutes of staring at a piece of parchment, Adora stood up and walked away from her desk; she was beginning to get a headache the more she looked at the paper. 

There was a knock at the door and Madam Hope walked in holding a couple of letters in her hand, “Your Majesty, there’s a couple of letters addressed to you from other neighboring kingdoms.” The girl walked over to her advisor and took the letters from her, giving her a small thank you. Madam Hope cleared her throat, “Do you need any help planning the banquet my queen?” 

The blonde opened up the letters and scanned through some of them quickly, “No that’s quite alright Madam Hope. But I shall ring you if I do run into any trouble,” Madam Hope nodded her head and walked out of Adora’s room. The empress went back to her desk and read the other letters. Most of the kingdoms that they’ve invited over to the royal banquet wrote back to Adora and politely refused the invitation, since they are working on repairing the damage that has been inflicted on their kingdom during the war. “I don’t know if I should be relieved that I don’t have to do much planning, or disappointed that this year’s banquet might be dull.” 

Whether there would be a lot of guests or not, Adora forced herself to work a bit more for the banquet. She figured that even if less people were showing up this year, she should make them feel jealous by hosting a grand banquet; at least that was her goal. After around 30 minutes of working, Adora heard a light tapping on her window. She looked up and saw the familiar brown cat again. She gasped in surprise and quickly unlocked the window for the cat. It gracefully jumped into Adora’s room and onto the desk where she was working on. “Oh you’re back!” she petted the cat’s nape and saw another note tied around the feline’s neck. She smiled at the cat, “Let’s see what your master has to say today,” the cat purred and layed down after Adora took the note off of its neck. 

_ I hope you are relieved that my cat found its way back to me, for it has proven that it is more clever than I. But I do like to think I am more intelligent than a cat. I hope you know that I have now cured from my drunkenness.  _

Adora chuckled at the note and grabbed a pen from her desk,  _ Now how on Etheria would I know that you aren’t drunk again? Nevermind that, what is the lovely cat’s name?  _ She tied the note once more around the cat’s neck. Adora hummed to herself, “I can’t get over how beautiful your eyes are,” she scratched behind the cat’s ear. The empress played with the cat for a couple more minutes, until it abruptly stood up and jumped out of the window. The blonde smiled, “I think I have made a friend… at least with the cat?” 

  
  
  


The carriage ride to Brightmoon was bumpy, but at least the scenery was nice. Adora stepped out of the carriage and stood in front of Brightmoon’s shining castle. She looked at it in awe, the empress thanked the carriage driver and pet the horse, she maybe secretly fed it an apple when the driver wasn’t looking. The Brightmoon gates opened for the Empress of Eternia and she walked into the main hallway where she saw Queen Angella of Brightmoon sitting on her throne waiting for Adora. 

The blonde knelt down in front of her, “Your Majesty,” she looked up and saw Queen Angella smiling fondly at her. 

“No need for that Adora,” Adora smiled and slowly stood up, “As you may or may not know, I think of you as my own daughter as well.” Queen Angella got up from her throne and walked towards Adora and embraced her in a loving hug, “It’s nice to see you again Adora dear, things have been tough, haven’t they?” 

Adora hugged back as she squeezed her eyes shut, “Very much so,” she let go of Queen Angella and gave her a soft smile, “But, I think things are slowly getting better.”

Queen Angella smiled back, “That’s very nice to hear. Anyways would you like to see it now?” Adora nodded, “That’s what I thought,” the woman waved her hand over at one of the Brightmoon guards, “Juliet, would you do the honors of escorting Empress Adora and I over to where I kept the item?” 

A guard ran over to them and removed her helmet, presenting a woman with dark skin and a scar on her nose, with long dark hair, one of the sides being shaved off, “I am humbly at your service Your Majesties,” she bowed. 

The three of them walked around the castle and through Brightmoon’s royal garden. Juliet led them into a weapon room where there were several staffs, bows and arrows, swords, and other weapons that the Brightmoon army uses. In the center of the room was a table with a piece of cloth on it. Queen Angella stepped towards the table and removed the cloth, revealing a sword with a golden handle that had a blue gem lodged in it, The woman gently picked up the sword and handed it over to Adora, “We were cleaning up the battlefields to find any missing soldiers and my troops found your mother’s sword.” 

Adora clutched the sword close to her body, “Thank you for returning it back to me, you have no idea how much it means to me,” Adora grabbed the cloth and silently wrapped it back around the blade. 

“Of course my dear,” Angella said, she nodded at Juliet to signal to leave the two of them, “While you are here, why don’t we catch up a bit?” 

  
  
  


Adora and Queen Angella sat at one of the tables that were in Brightmoon’s garden as they sipped their cups of tea. “When I received your letter this morning that you’ve found my mother’s sword, I knew I had to come right away,” Adora said as she added a sugar cube to her tea.

“Yes, Empress Mara was an astounding warrior, her sword was one of her most cherished possessions,” Queen Angella said. 

The blonde nodded, “I’m planning on making a memorial to her in Eteria’s garden, it was always one of her favorite places to be at after a long day of work,” Queen Angella sipped her cup as she listened to Adora, “I’m not sure if the sword should be a part of her memorial or if I should just display it on the walls though.” 

Queen Angella hummed, “Well, that choice is up to you my dear,” Adora nodded, agreeing with the woman, “Anyways, how’s planning for the banquet? It’s only now 2 weeks away is it not?” 

“Yes, so far I have planned the decorations and my chef, Madame Razz and I are planning on what dishes to serve at the banquet,” Adora sighed, “2 weeks ago I sent out invitations and some kingdoms wrote back to tell me they couldn’t make it since those kingdoms are too busy repairing the damage that the Horde has inflicted upon their kingdoms during the war.” 

“Yes, I have heard rumors about that,” Queen Angella sighed, “It’s a shame that they can’t attend a banquet hosted by Etheria’s youngest empress,” Adora grew flustered when the woman complimented her, “But anyways, Glimmer told me that you are inviting the new head of the Horde?” 

Adora covered her right side of her face with her hand and sighed, “Yes, I am curious on who this ‘Catra’ is, apparently there are many rumors about her. Perfuma and Bow even think that she is a therianthrope and that her advisor is a user of dark magic,” Queen Angella chuckled at what came out of Adora’s mouth, “I know, it’s absolutely  _ bizarre _ . There hasn’t been a magic user on Etheria for ages.”

The woman sipped from her cup of tea, “Well, who knows?” Adora raised a skeptical eyebrow at Queen Angella, “Don’t get me wrong my dear, I also think it is preposterous that those rumors have been spread. But the world is a strange place, so we have to be open to those possibilities my dear.” 

The blonde shrugged, “I suppose so. Speaking of Gimmer, where is she? I hadn’t seen her since I walked into the castle.”

“She’s on a diplomatic mission to Salineas for me, I couldn’t go since I wanted to speak with you and show you Empress Mara’s sword,” Queen Angella sighed, “My Glimmer is growing up so fast, she’s all independent now, almost ready to become queen,” Adora’s eyes grew wide at the woman’s statement, Queen Angella laughed, “Though, I’m not ready to retire nor do I plan on dying yet, so I’m afraid Glimmer will have to stay a princess a little bit longer.” 

“That’s fair,” Adora nodded and stood up, “Well, I think my driver has been waiting for me a while now. It was nice seeing you again Queen Angella,” she bowed, “I shall see you at the royal banquet?”

Queen Angella stood up and hugged Adora one last time, “Yes, I do plan on attending.” 

Queen Angella ordered Juliet to escort Adora out of Brightmoon, the empress walked over to the carriage that brought her to Brightmoon and stepped in, going on another bumpy ride back to Eternia. She looked down at the sword that was resting on her lap and smiled fondly at it. Now that she had her mother’s sword, she felt a piece of her heart mend, it was like a piece of her mother’s soul was with her again. 

  
  
  


It was now nearing midnight when Adora walked into her castle and was greeted by her advisor, “Was your trip to Brightmoon pleasant Your Majesty?” Madam Hope bowed. 

“It’s nice to see you again Madam Hope,” she handed Mara’s sword over to the woman, “Yes, it was a pleasant trip indeed. Will you please put my mother’s sword in the weapon room while I think of a use for it please?” 

The woman gently held onto the sword and nodded, “Yes, of course Your Majesty.”

Adora smiled, “I’m going to take a bath now, it’s been a long trip for me,” she started to walk up the stairs but turned back around, “You should take the rest of the night off too Madam Hope, you’ve look like you’ve been working quite a while already.”

She quickly stripped her clothes off and got into a hot bathtub, “Would it just be okay for me to bury my mother’s sword next to her grave?” she groaned loudly, “Ugh, I don’t know what’s the most respectful thing to do!” Adora sank in the bathtub, “I should probably just display the sword in the castle, instead of having the sword on her memorial. She was a humble woman, especially with her warrior skills.”

After her bath, Adora stepped out of the tub and quickly dried herself and put on a flowy white gown to go to bed in, she walked over her bedroom door and opened it. Sitting on her open windowsill was the cat again, Adora quickly walked over to it and greeted it excitedly with many scratches on its head. “Let’s see what your master has said this time, hm?” the girl took the note off of the cat’s neck and read it.

_ Does such a thing matter? You may name the cat if you want though.  _

Adora rubbed her chin and stared at the cat, gray-blue eyes met mismatched eyes. “It seems like your master allowed me to name you whatever I want,” the cat meowed and Adora rubbed its back, “Well you are a very graceful cat… so what’s an appropriate name for one?” The cat stretched its body and yawned, it then hit Adora, the  _ perfect _ name. She looked at the cat and a grin spread across her face, “How about I name you Applesauce Meowmeow!” 

The cat hissed at the name but Adora just laughed, “You don’t like that? Well your master  _ did _ grant me permission to name you whatever I want,” the cat hissed once more and Adora rolled her eyes at it, “Oh don’t blame  _ me _ for naming you Applesauce Meowmeow, blame your master for giving such vague instructions. But Applesauce Meowmeow is a mouthful,” she smiled at the feline, “I’ll just call you Applesauce, however the Meowmeow part  _ is _ going to be part of your name, just saying.” 

She took out a pen from her desk and wrote on the back of the note,  _ Since you’ve granted me permission to name the cat, it’s name from now on is Applesauce Meowmeow.  _ Adora smiled at the note and tied it once again around the cat’s neck. “Goodbye Applesauce, can’t wait to see you again!” The cat then jumped out of the bedroom window and into the night.

  
  
  


The cat jumped into the Horde’s castle and a puff of smoke appeared once again. The girl walked out of the smoke and put on her red silk robe. “I can’t believe this,  _ I _ was the one who slayed Lord Prime and brought an end to his tyranny,” she took off the note around her neck and read through it once again, “ _ I _ am the ruler of a powerful nation! Yet she has the  _ audacity _ to name me such a ridiculous name such as Applesauce Meowmeow?!  _ Me _ ?!” she cackled as she was tying on her robe around her body. The brunette slowly inhaled and exhaled a breath, she smirked, “How  _ charming _ .” 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> catra you fucking SIMP you SIMP!! adora is like ooohhh a cute kitty BUT JUST WAIT TIL SHE MEETS CATRA ITS GOING TO BE LOWKEY SPICYY and i love adora and angella's friendship/mother daughter ish thing in the show so HERE WE HAVE IT IN THIS STORY! two weeks (story time) til the banquet ALSO TWO WEEKS TIL CATRA AND ADORA MEET FOR THE ACTUAL FIRST TIME WHEN CATRA IS HUMAN NOT A FUCKING CAT! anyways hope you guys enjoyed this second chapter of this story im having a really fun time making it and if you guys can please comment your thoughts down below just so i can see if yall like this chapter i love reading your comments they crack me up! next chapter will be up soon anyways hope everyone has a good morning/afternoon/night :)


	3. wait for me my queen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> adora's secret penpal proposes an idea, the banquet is set

Inside Eternia’s garden sat Applesauce, the feline licked her paws and looked up at the castle, she saw Empress Adora sitting on her desk, scribbling notes down on paper. With swift movements, she climbed the trees up to the top of the castle and pounced in the window, landing right in front of the Empress of Eternia. “Applesauce you’re back!” Adora exclaimed, the cat hissed at the name. The empress giggled, “You’ll get used to the name don’t worry Applesauce,” she stroked the cats head and took off the note that was tied around her neck.

_ I do hope you know that my cat doesn’t like the name Applesauce Meowmeow but I did say that you could name her so I suppose her name is Applesauce Meowmeow now.  _

Adora smiled at the note, she looked over at Applesauce, “You’re master is quite something huh? They are very true to their words,” the cat purred and rubbed her body against Adora’s arm, “I do wonder who they are though.”

She grabbed a note and scribbled on the back of the note,  _ You sure are true to your word, but anyways I do wonder a lot who I am writing to.  _ The blonde tied the note back around her neck and the cat flinched when Adora kissed the top of her head. Applesauce jumped out of the window and sprinted back out of Eternia’s territory. 

  
  
  


The cat transformed back into her human body and touched her flushed cheek, “Did she really have to kiss me though?” The brunette smiled to herself, “Not that I mind or anything,” she walked over to her desk and took the note off her neck, “Looks like my queen is interested in who I am,” The girl licked her lips and grabbed a pen that was resting on her desk, “How about we play a little game?” 

  
  
  


Adora’s desk had papers, filled with messy sketches of ideas and notes for the royal banquet, scattered on its surface. She bit the end of her pen as she stared at her notes, “Well… balloons sound a bit cliche, but they would fill up some space in the halls, so why not?” she put a checkmark next to the word balloon. The empress sighed, “Madame Razz and I already planned which dishes to prepare…” she muttered. After working for a couple more minutes, the empress decided to take a little break and walk around the garden for a while. 

She sat down on a stone bench and gazed at the clouds, using her imagination to envision shapes with the white puffs. There was a rustling in a bush nearby and Adora snapped her head towards where the sound was coming from, moments later the sociable cat hopped out of the bush and sat in front of Adora’s feet. “Applesauce! Oh how I’ve missed you!” the cat meowed and jumped on the blonde’s lap. The empress took off the note that was tied around the feline’s neck. 

_ It’s no fun if I just tell you who I am, so let me propose something. If you can guess who I am correctly, I will give you a respectful prize. Remember, I am going to attend the banquet you are hosting. _

The empress raised an eyebrow, “So your master likes to play games, don’t they?” she looked over at Applesauce who just licked her paws. She sighed, “Well, if they want to play games, I suppose I shall be a player,” she took out a pen and wrote on the back of the note.  _ And what is this oh so respectful prize going to be?  _

She tied the note back around the feline and kissed Applesauce’s nose, “Well let’s see what your master has in plan for me,” the cat purred and instead of leaving right away like what she has done before, Applesauce curled up besides the empress and dozed off to Adora’s rhymatic stroking. 

  
  
  


It was midnight and the weather wasn’t pleasant at all for it has been stormy all day. Adora was staying up late tonight, Madame Razz already brought her a cup of soothing tea and some biscuits for a snack in case she gets hungry as she works. Adora sighed, the banquet is only a couple days away and she still was indecisive about decorations and what to do when she meets other royals. Madam Hope always scolded Adora since she wasn’t formal enough with the other kingdom rulers, “I do hope I don’t have to cling onto anyone during the banquet, I need to look professional and formal,” she groaned, “Eternia is counting on me to keep its formal legacy, let’s hope I don’t taint our reputation because I never listened to Madam Hope to study my etiquette.” 

She laughed at herself, “If that happens, Madam Hope will never get off my case,” she stood up and paced around the room, “‘Hello it’s so nice to meet you, I’m Empress Adora, daughter of Empress Mara. I do hope you enjoy the banquet,’” she spoke to herself. Adora grimace, “I never liked talking formally, that’s one of the difficult responsibilities I now have as an empress.” 

There was tapping at the window, Adora turned her head and saw Applesauce outside, begging to get out of the rain. The empress rushed over and opened up the window, the cat wandered in and shook the rain out of her fur, “Oh you poor thing!” Adora exclaimed, “Wait right here,” she ran into the bathroom and got out a towel to wrap the wet cat in. Applesauce hissed at Adora, “Don’t be like that I’m trying to help you!” After much effort, Adora finally got the wet cat wrapped up in the towel and cradled her in her arms.

“Sheesh, your master is really something huh? Did they force you to deliver another message to me in the rain?” Adora shook her head, “That’s just cruel,” she looked down at the cat who was still trying to kick her way out of the towel, “Oh come on! It’s nice and warm in the towel, yet you want to leave? I don’t understand you Applesauce.” Adora took the note off of the cat’s neck. 

_ The prize shall be Applesauce Meowmeow. _

Adora huffed, “How cruel,” she walked over to the desk and scribbled on the back of the damp note,  _ Very well.  _ The blonde looked outside the window, it was still pouring out there, “Well, there’s no way I’m letting you back outside in the rain, who knows what will happen to you. So I’m just going to let you stay here in my room, at least until the rain clears up.” Adora yawned, “It’s getting late, I’m going to change and go to bed,” she gently placed Applesauce on the floor.

The empress walked over to her wardrobe next to her bed and began to strip her clothes off, Applesauce meowed loudly and turned away. Adora looked at the cat and snorted, “Such manners you have, but we are both ladies aren’t we?” she joked, she put on her casual silk gown and laid down on her bed. Adora looked down at the floor where Applesauce was resting, “I would invite you to stay on the bed, but you’ve just been drenched in water, I hope the floor treats you well though,” Adora smiled at the cat and closed her eyes, “Sweet dreams Applesauce.”

  
  
  


It was moments before sunrise and the rain had just stopped, she opened her eyes and looked around the room. This wasn’t the Fright Zone, where was she? And why was she naked? The brunette sat up and remembered what happened last night,  _ Oh right, _ she thought,  _ I stayed the night as Applesauce.  _ She peeked head up and saw the empress still dozing off. She chuckled to herself,  _ My queen looks so beautiful even when asleep _ , she shook her head,  _ No, I must not think that way, it’s rude.  _

She quietly crept to the window and peeked outside, she could see the sun poking its head from behind the mountains, she looked back at the sleeping Adora, “Well, we shall meet again soon my queen. In person that is,” a puff of smoke appeared and she was gone. 

  
  
  


There was only a couple of hours until the annual royal banquet starts and the grand hall in the castle of Eternia never looked livelier, there were banners hung on the ceilings, large balloons in the corners of the room, the table was set for having meals, and there was an empty space on the floor if anyone wants to dance to the live music that was going to be playing. Adora looked around the hall,  _ Not too shabby _ , she thought,  _ pretty good for hosting my first banquet.  _

Madam Hope came into the room and stood next to Adora, “I think this year’s banquet will be a success Your Majesty,” she said softly.

Adora looked up in surprise at her advisor, Madam Hope wasn’t usually the one who gets satisfied, “Really? You mean it Madam Hope?” The woman nodded at Adora, “Thank you! I didn’t know if you would be satisfied or not,” Adora smiled.

The advisor hummed, “No, it looks great, Your Majesty,” she smiled down at the empress, “Your mother would be very proud of you Empress,” Adora blushed at the compliment and thanked the woman again.

“Madam Hope, can you tell the staff to take a break? The next couple hours will be a challenge,” the advisor nodded and bowed, “If you need me I shall be in my study,” Adora walked up to her room and collapsed on her bed face forward, “What a day, and it’s not even over yet,” she sighed. 

She stayed in that position for a while and turned her head just to see Applesauce sitting on her bed right in front of her, “Oh you’re here again, you’ve been visiting me a lot recently, haven’t you?” Adora smiled, she sat up and opened the note that was around the cat’s neck.

_ The banquet is tonight, are you anxious? I know I am.  _

Adora glanced at the note and grabbed a pen,  _ I am excited to see my choices before I guess who you are.  _ She sighed, “I should be excited for this banquet, but it makes me anxious instead, usually during big events like these, my mother was the sociable one,” she tied the note around the cat and plopped back down on the bed, “Sorry Applesauce, I can’t give you much pets today, I’m exhausted.” The cat curled up next to Adora’s body and laid there a bit to keep her company. 

  
  
  


The cat climbed up to the Horde’s castle and jumped into the room, transforming back into her human form, she quickly put on a robe and a tall, buff woman with a stylish platinum undercut walked into the room, “Catra! There you are Madam Weaver has been looking everywhere for you! Where have you been?” 

Catra groaned, “I’ll deal with her later, and I was just visiting other kingdoms in my cat form nothing much,” she walked over to her desk and opened a drawer, she took out the royal banquet invitation that got sent to her a month ago, “Why does she want to speak with me anyways?”

Scorpia shrugged and stood next to Catra, “Forgot, she wouldn’t tell me,” Catra rolled her eyes, the taller girl peered over her friend’s shoulder, “Oh shoot I totally forgot that the banquet was tonight!”

The brunette nodded, “I know we’ve been friends for years, but it surprises me that you are a daughter of noblewomen,” Catra walked over to her wardrobe and started to change into a black suit, she looked over at her mirror and tried her best to tie her bowtie. In the end, she couldn’t properly tie it so she just decided to keep it untied. 

“Yeah, not a lot of people know about my background since Lord Prime wanted to cover it up during his tyranny,” Scorpia smiled, “Anyways, I’m going to get ready and we can head out,” Catra looked over at her and nodded. After Scorpia exited the room, the door opened again and Catra looked over to see a tall thin woman with long black hair, wearing a red dress and a mask to shield her face.

“Madam Weaver, must you wear that mask?” Catra said, putting on a jacket, “I thought you only wore it when you practiced your magic.” Ignoring the lord’s question, the woman walked over to stand in front of Catra and crossed her arms, Catra scoffed and grabbed a royal stash to put around her shoulder, “Even with the mask on, I can tell your face is radiating from disappointment. Do you need something?” 

Madam Weaver removed her mask, and underneath was a wrinkled face that had many scars across it, “Lord Catra, I have been looking for you for  _ ages _ , where on Etheria have you been?” the woman’s husky voice spoke, “You do realize that we have to go to the neighboring kingdoms and apologize on behalf of the Horde since former Lord Prime destroyed their towns? We have a reputation to fix!”

Scorpia came back into the room wearing a nice black dress that showed off her hourglass figure, “Catra are you ready to go?”

“Lord Catra has other things to do then to go to a silly banquet,” Madam Weaver snarled at Scorpia.

Catra scoffed, “That can wait Madam Weaver,” she glared at her advisor, “I know we have a reputation to fix, and the best place to do that for right now is at the royal banquet, where some of the most powerful rulers of Etheria are,” she opened her drawer and put on white gloves, “The banquet will be filled with kingdom rulers and trust me when I say I _will_ get on their good sides.”

“But my Lord-”

The brunette stepped closer to the woman, “Let’s not forget who exactly is in charge Madam Weaver. So don’t step out of line, if you know what’s best for you,” she walked over to Scorpia and put on her iconic smirk, “Get my carriage ready, we’ve got a banquet to attend.” 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE BANQUET THE BANQUET THEY'RE GONNA MEET SOON OMG OMG OMG I PROMISEEE YOU that the next chapter is going to be SPICYYYYYYY and yes catra is going to get on the royal's good side ESPECIALLY ADORA'S "GOOD" side if you know what i mean hahaha. I am going to have SO MUCH FUN writing catra and adora's meeting for the first time (well meeting in human form for the first time hahaha) anyways this chapter was SOMETHING and catra's little game on making adora guess who she is? that's going to be pretty spicy for later (HINT) anyways hope you guys liked today's chapter it was a lot of catra and adora talking through notes but im living for it idk about you guys ahah anyways as always comment your thoughts on today's chapter i always look forward to reading them in the morning! Hope everyone has a good morning/afternoon/evening!


	4. slow dance with you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the night of the banquet has finally arrived and lord catra and empress adora finally meet for the (presumably) first time

Adora looked at herself in her mirror. She was wearing an extravagant red dress and a white cape over it. She stared at her reflection, she usually didn’t really like wearing big dresses like this, but since she was hosting such a big event, Adora thought it would be appropriate to do so. She took out a hair tie and knotted her hair in a braided bun, the empress walked over to her desk and put on her crown, “You look lovely as ever Your Majesty,” a voice spoke out. The girl turned around and saw Madam Hope standing in the doorstep wearing a pale blue dress. 

“Thank you Madam Hope, I can say the same for you too,” Adora smiled.

The woman bowed, “I am flattered, anyways, the guests should be arriving soon,” Adora bit the inside of her cheek nervously, “I do hope you remember that you have to be on your best manners, even with your dear friends.”

She sighed, “Yes Madam Hope, I understand,” Adora started to walk out of the door, “I’ll head down now, to greet any guests who will be arriving early,” she walked down the castle’s spiral stairs and into the grand hall, where the banquet will be mainly held. She looked around at the hall and was pleased with the work she had put in, Adora walked over to the main gates of the castle and ordered her servants to lower it. 

A few moments later, guests from all around Etheria started to gather in the halls, they all came up to Adora and introduced themselves to the host. The corners of Adora’s lips started to ache from how much she had been smiling, she took a deep breath and spotted her friend, Glimmer, along with Bow and Queen Angella, making their way towards her. 

All three of them bowed down in front of the empress, “Your Majesty,” Queen Angella murmured, after bowing for three seconds, they all looked at Empress Adora and smiled, “Thank you for inviting us to the banquet, Empress,” Queen Angella said softly.

“I’m glad all of you could make it,” Adora smiled, they all took the empress’s hand and kissed it, “Enjoy the banquet,” Queen Angella went to socialize with the others while Bow and Glimmer stayed near Adora.

Bow looked around the hall, “Wow Adora, it looks great!” 

“Yeah, you really went out with the banquet this year Adora!” Glimmer agreed.

Adora blushed, “Thank you,” she cleared her throat, “Anyways, I think most of the guests are already here, we’re just missing-” 

“Oh my god it’s her!” someone shouted. The crowd started to murmur and Adora looked towards the gates to see who everyone was talking about. Coming in from the gates were two women, one of them was tall and had a muscular build, she wore a nice black dress which showed off her figure. The other girl besides her was shorter, she had long, messy, brunette hair and was wearing a black suit, along with an obnoxious smirk. 

Glimmer whispered into Adora’s ear, “That’s her! The Horde scum, Lord Catra!”

Adora bit her lip as the two women walked towards Adora and kelt in front of her, the brunette took Adora’s hand and kissed it, she looked up at the empress, “I am honored to be invited to the royal banquet, my queen,” she purred. 

“I am glad you can make it,” Adora said a bit coldly, “I assume you’re Lord Catra?” the girl smiled cockily, Adora turned to Scorpia who smiled at her, “Lady Scorpia, I’m glad to see you again.”

Scorpia nodded, “It’s nice to see you again Empress Adora.”

“Anywho, I do hope you two enjoy the banquet,” Adora said, she quickly glanced at Catra, who was staring at her. It was strange, this was the first time Adora had met Lord Catra, but something just seemed so familiar about her. After meeting the empress, Scorpia and Catra got up and went to socialize around the banquet. Adora walked over to Glimmer who was eating some pastries, “So  _ that’s _ Lord Catra?” she looked across the room and saw the girl drinking a glass of wine as she leaned against a pillar. 

Glimmer took a bite out of her pastry, “Yeah, I’ve never actually seen her in person, she seems… arrogant in some way. I mean, look at her smirk!” the princess huffed and rolled her eyes.

The empress chuckled, “I see you’re not a fan of Lord Catra, Princess Glimmer.”

“How can I be?” Glimmer said, crossing her arms, “She’s part of the Horde! We’ve been enemies for  _ years _ , she may be trying to win us over at tonight’s banquet and trying to clear the Horde’s name. But I can’t help but feel like there’s something more sinister to it.” 

Adora sighed, “I suppose you’re right, but let’s just enjoy the banquet for now,” she looked over at Catra who was staring at her, “For some reason, she feels familiar in some way.”

“What was that?”

The blonde shook her head, “It was nothing, don’t worry about it. Anyways, I’m going to go greet the others, I’ll see you later?” Adora waved to Glimmer who waved back and walked around the banquet. 

The first person she ran into was Princess Perfuma, “Oh Perfuma! I’m so sorry, are you okay?” the princess didn’t say anything as she was looking afar, Adora didn’t even think that Perfuma noticed her, “Princess Perfuma…?”

“Oh! Sorry Empress!” the girl apologized, “I was… I was just lost somewhere else,” she giggled nervously, Adora raised an eyebrow at the girl, “Well… I suppose I shall tell you what’s going on, since you are one of my dearest friends,” Adora chuckled, “But anyways, don’t you think Lady Scorpia looks as elegant as ever tonight?” 

Adora’s eyes grew wide, “You… you  _ fancy _ Lady Scorpia?”

Perfuma turned a crimson red, “I-” she hung her head, “I do… I have for a long time actually, but can you blame me?” she sighed dreamingly, “I don't’ know what to do, I’ve never felt this way before, well… actually I did fancy you and General Huntara before.”

“You  _ what _ ?” Adora said flabbergast.

“But nevermind that,” she turned to Adora and groaned, “What should I do Empress? Should I talk to her or should I just look from afar?”

Adora was still processing what Perfuma had just blurted out seconds ago, she bit her lip and forced her to ignore that fact for now, “Well, you should just talk to her, what’s the worst that can happen?” 

The Princess of Plumeria hit her fist against her palm, “You’re right Empress! I can do this! I am the ruler of my own kingdom, I can handle talking to a woman!” she paused for a second, “A really,  _ really _ good looking woman…” she slapped her cheeks and marched off to where Lady Scorpia was eating Madam Razz’s famous crab cakes.

Empress Adora snorted as she watched Perfuma trip on her heels, only to be caught in the arms of Lady Scorpia, “I think she’ll be alright,” she turned around and spotted her friend, Princess Entrapta of Dryl, “Princess Entrapta!” 

A short woman with long purple hair, tied into pigtails turned around and saw Adora walking towards her, “Oh, Empress Adora! Hello!” she bowed in the presence of the Empress.

“It’s been a while Princess Entrapta, how are things going in the kingdom of Dryl?” Adora curiously asked.

Entrapta grinned with delight, “Glad you asked! Anyways, I’ve been experimenting with different materials and I am planning to make a vehicle to replace horses!” Adora tilted her head in confusion, “Get this! My invention will change traveling! Instead of riding on bumpy horse rides, we will be able to travel in this machine which runs on an engine and it can take us anywhere, 5 times the speed of a horse!” 

Adora chuckled awkwardly, “That’s great Entrapta,” she spotted Princess Mermista and her boyfriend Seahawk not to far from her, the blonde bowed to Entrapta, “Well, it was nice catching up, if you’ll excuse me, I’m just going to greet my other guests.”

“Oh okay! Goodbye!” Entrapta hollered, Adora walked away but had a feeling that someone was watching her, she turned back and saw Lord Catra standing next to Entrapta, staring right at her. She shook the feeling off and joined in on a conversation Mermista was having. 

  
  
  


Catra walked over to Scopia who was sitting on a chair, “I just talked to 3 other kingdoms, and it was honestly exhausting,” she sighed, “But I think I just made acquaintances with Princess Entrapta of Dryl, she asked me if she wanted to observe the banquet guests with her and I agreed. To be honest it was kind of fun, plus I think she’ll be useful in the future since she’s a literal genius,” She looked over at her friend who was grinning at the floor, “Now what’s got you smiling like that Scorpia?”

The taller girl looked at Catra and smiled brightly, “I was just talking to Princess Perfuma of Plumeria and she’s-  _ wow _ , she’s something,” Catra raised an eyebrow and laughed.

“Well, I’m happy for you Scorpia, you should try to dance with her tonight,” Catra grabbed a glass of champagne off from a tray from a server that was walking by.

“Yeah, maybe I’ll do that!” Scorpia glanced at the brunette and nudged her, “Say, does anyone at the banquet tonight catch your eye?” 

The brunette choked on the champagne she was drinking, she wiped her mouth and looked across the room and saw Empress Adora in a group of other princesses. She sighed, “Hm… you can say that,” she looked over at Scorpia who was beaming of joy when she heard that her best friend fancied someone, Catra rolled her eyes, “Ugh, don’t look at me like that Scorpia.”

“Sorry, sorry, it’s just that I’ve never really seen you like this before,” Scorpia twinkled.

“Like what?”

The platinum haired girl shrugged, “Y’know happy, ever since you’ve been deemed Lord of the Horde, you’ve been really stressed out and on edge,” Scorpia patted Catra’s shoulder, “The first time you’ve smiled in ages was last month, I wonder why.”

Catra leaned forward in her hair and brought her hand to her chin, she looked over at Empress Adora who was laughing with her friends, “Hm… yeah, I wonder why,” she echoed.

  
  
  


Adora excused herself from the conversation she was in, she stood in front of everyone and cleared her throat, “May I have everyone’s attention please?” she spoke loudly, hundreds of eyes looked at her and she nervously bit her lip, she wasn’t really a confident public speaker. The blonde took a deep breath, “It is my solemn duty as hostess to now announce, it is time for the first dance of the banquet.”

Guests cheered and they all gathered on the main dance floor, dragging Adora with the crowd, the live band started to play and Adora was lost on the dance floor. She desperately looked around the hall, trying to find a space to leave the dance floor, she turned around and was face to face with Catra, who was holding out her hand for the empress. “May I have this dance my queen?” 

The blonde bit her lip and looked around once again, there wasn’t any opening for her to leave, plus it would be rude to do so. She sighed and placed her hand in Catra’s and the two of them started to dance to the waltz the band was playing. They danced in a circle, “I forgot to say that you are looking as elegant as ever, my queen,” Catra purred.

“Hm… there’s no need to be flattering, Lord Catra,” Adora huffed, the empress couldn’t help but get goosebumps when Catra held onto her waist.

Catra swiftly moved, her face inches away from Adora’s, she whispered in her ear, “Anyways, I’ve noticed that during the banquet, you’ve been looking around the room a lot, is it because you are looking for a specific someone?” Chills ran down Adora’s spine as Catra’s husky voice rang in her ear, “Maybe… someone who has been sending you mysterious letters?” 

“You-”

The brunette looked over at the band performing and listened closely to the music, “Now hold on tightly my queen,” before Adora could process what was happening, she was hanging from Catra’s arm and was being dipped. 

She was panting and looked up at Catra who was cockily grinning down at her. Her heart was racing, Adora didn’t know where to look, Catra’s lips? Catra’s hands? The audience that was staring around them? Or her eyes? Her eyes- Adora looked up at Catra’s eyes and her heart thumped. How could she have not noticed it before? One of Catra’s pupil was a golden brown and the other was an ocean blue. Adora looked at it in shock,

_ … Applesauce?  _

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> never in my entire life would i thought i would end a fanfiction chapter with the word "applesauce" BUT HERE WE ARE. ANYWAYS i don't know if this chapter was SpiCy enough but think about it this way A GIRL WHO YOU HAVE PROBABLY NEVER SEEN BEFORE WALKS INTO YOUR PARTY, KISSES YOUR HAND AND CALLS YOU "my queen" AND SHE DIPS YOU?! like idk i would be feeling pretty hot if i was adora at the moment. oh and also YES I BELIEVE IN THE SHOW PERFUMA HAD A CRUSH ON SHE-RA AND HUNTARA LIKE SHE LIKES BUFF WOMEN OKAY? SO I MADE ADORA/HUNTARA HER PAST CRUSHES IN HERE BC IDK I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE FUN LOL anyways but the fact that adora wasn't sure if she wanted to look at catra's lips like EEEE okay but that's FUTURE adora's problem if y'know what i mean hahaha anywayssss there was a LOT of foreshadowing in this chapter well, actually in my previous chapters there was hella foreshadowing haha but anyways hope you guys enjoyed the banquet chapter and im just telling you know these first four chapters were pretty simple, im just gonna say put on your seatbelts bc the next chapters (i mean idk about the NEXT chapter but the future chapters) are going to get PRETTY WILD! as always feel free to leave your thoughts on today's chapter down in the comments below and i hope everyone has a good morning/afternoon/evening! :)


	5. feel something

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> adora is contemplantes if catra really is applesauce the cat or if she is just letting conspiracies get in her head

Adora anxiously bit her fingernails, “This just doesn’t make any sense!” she ranted to her friends, Glimmer and Bow, as the trio all sat in Eternia’s royal garden, “It’s for sure, that Lord Catra is the one who’s been sending me those anonymous letters, but there’s  _ no _ way she’s the cat who delivers them to me right?!” 

Glimmer rolled her eyes, “Of course a Horde scum like her would be hiding who she really is and manipulating Adora like that,” she sighed, “But there’s no way she is an actual therianthrope is there? I mean, magic users haven’t been seen around Etheria for  _ ages _ ! Maybe it’s just some freak coincidence.” 

The boy extended a hand out and touched Adora’s shoulder, “To be honest, I believe that Lord Catra could be a therianthrope, since there’s been sightings of her,” Adora looked up at the boy anxiously, “But, hey who knows, Glimmer could be right too, there’s numbers of owners who have the same eye colors as their pets.”

The empress stood up and paced around the garden, “I know that! I  _ know _ ! But they both have heterochromia and the same eye color! I mean that’s too much of a coincidence don’t you think?” she groaned, “Thinking about this gives me a headache,” she went back to the table and plopped back down on the chair, “I thought after the banquet I wouldn’t have anything to worry about, but here I am.” 

“Look Adora, just for now keep a distance from the cat and don’t reply to the letters,” Glimmer advised, “If it bothers you that much.” 

Bow gave the girl a crooked smile, “ _ Or _ you can continue to respond to the letters and slowly get information about Catra and find out if she’s actually a therianthrope,” the two girls glared at him, “Heh, just a suggestion,” he added nervously. 

Adora stood up and sighed, “Thanks for the advice guys, but I don’t want to think about this too much though, I don’t really want to get my head too caught up in some, probably, ridiculous idea,” she patted the dust off of her dress, “Well, I’m going to head back in my castle now and get some rest, the banquet really did a number on me,” she bowed to her friends and walked back inside her castle.

  
  
  


She walked into the room and lied down on her bed, Adora heard some scuffling on the floor, curiously she looked down and saw Applesauce, er- Lord Catra? On the floor looking up at her, chills ran down Adora’s spine, she chose to listen to Glimmer’s advice and just turned away from the cat.  _ Please take this as a sign to leave me alone, Applesauce, Lord Catra, whoever you are,  _ Adora thought. 

Her thoughts weren’t heard and the cat jumped onto Adora’s bed and rubbed its body against Adora’s, the empress jumped and stared at the cat with a mixture of horror, confusion and sorrow, “Please just leave me alone,” Adora asked as kindly as she could.  _ What am I even doing, it’s not like she can understand me… unless Applesauce really is Lord Catra,  _ she thought,  _ but that’s impossible right? _

Applesauce ignored Adora’s pleas and just walked up to the empress and sat in front of it, Adora’s eyes were fixed on the note that hung from the cat’s neck. The blonde sighed, “Who am I kidding, both of us know you aren’t really Lord Catra, that’s just preposterous,” she giggled, “Bow and Perfuma’s conspiracies are getting in my head,” she reached out a hand and took the note off of the cat, “Anyways, let’s see what your master has to say today.”

_ I had a fun time last night at the banquet, how was your experience my queen?  _

The empress rolled her eyes at the message, she could practically hear Lord Catra’s arrogant voice reading the note out to her in her head. She knew she shouldn’t write back, since Glimmer told her not to, but it was just too tempting. Adora grabbed a pen and wrote on the back of the note,  _ My experience was quite something,  _ “Don’t want to expose too much of my thoughts,” she murmured under her breath.

She tied the note around Applesauce’s neck, “Now, whatever I tell you, you  _ cannot _ tell your master,” Adora spoke, “Everything between us, stays between us, promise?” the cat meowed and rubbed her face against Adora’s palm, the empress giggled, “I’ll take that as a promise too,” Applesauce ran out of Adora’s room. The girl groaned, “Why am I even promising something with a cat, that can supposedly also be Lord Catra? This whole situation is just one giant headache.” 

  
  
  


Catra sat on her balcony, the wind blowing through her thick brunette mane, she stared at the note around her neck, “I’m sorry my queen, but I’m afraid I cannot keep this promise,” she sighed, “It does seem like you are catching on about my identity though… it’s going to be quite a nuisance if you’re skeptical about my cat form,” she hit her head with her fist, “Well, some things cannot be helped, but this game isn’t quite over yet, so I’ll have to put the pawns in my favor.” 

She hopped down from the balcony and walked into the castle, she swerved around the corner and opened the door to Madam Weaver’s chamber, “Madam Weaver,” she called out.

The woman was sitting on a table, reading ancient texts and looked up at Catra, “Yes my lord?”

Catra cringed, she always hated it whenever Madam Weaver wore her mask, it always gave her the chills, “Clear my schedule for tomorrow and make sure the carriage is ready for departure tomorrow afternoon, I’ve got my own plans sorted out.”

“As you wish Lord Catra,” Madam Weaver nodded. Catra looked at the top of the woman’s mask and saw a dark, crimson red crystal shine at the top. She squinted at the gleaming crystal one last time before she exited out of Madam Weaver’s chambers.

The girl started to walk back towards her room, a corner of her lip formed into a smirk, “Oh? Well how about that?” 

  
  
  


Adora walked into Eternia’s weapon room and grabbed her mother’s sword that was wrapped up in cloth. She walked down the stairs and placed the sword in a glass display on one of the main walls, displaying it to everyone. She smiled at it, “There you go mother,” she whispered. Adora wandered around the castle and ran into Madam Hope.

“Your Majesty!” she bowed, “I’ve been looking all over for you, there’s a guest in front of the gates, she is hoping that you give her a tour of Eternia’s castle,” Madam Hope announced.

The girl raised an eyebrow, “A guest? I wasn’t expecting anyone today,” she sighed, “But, it’s not like I have anything better to do, so I suppose I shall head down and meet whoever this guest is,” Adora walked down towards the gates and racked her brain, wondering who could be this mysterious guest, she ordered her servants to open the gates and standing there was Lord Catra herself, wearing an elegant maroon buttoned up shirt and black slacks, with her usual messy mane tied up in a ponytail. 

“My queen,” she purred, bowing down in the presence of the empress.

Adora’s face dropped, “Lord Catra,” she said in an unamused tone, “You’re the one in need of a tour around Eternia?”

The brunette walked up to the empress and kissed her hand, “To be honest, not really, it was just an excuse to see you again,” she winked.

The blonde’s face started to heat up, “Let’s get started with the tour.”

  
  
  


Empress Adora and Lord Catra walked around the royal garden, “So this is the garden,” Adora said in a monotone voice, “it’s where I spend most of my time, it was also my mother’s favorite place to be.”

Catra hummed, “It’s lovely, much more elegant than my own garden back in the Fright Zone.”

“Thank you Lord Catra.”

The shorter girl laughed, “No need for all the formalities, my queen. Just ‘Catra’ is okay with me, just so you know.”

Adora bit her lip and shook her head, “No, no, I’m fine with calling you Lord Catra, it’s the most polite thing to do, since you are a guest in Eternia.” To be honest, Adora didn’t want to be all friendly with the lord, since she wasn’t sure whether to trust her or not yet, “Anyways, let’s head back inside.”

They were walking through the grand halls, where all the paintings and artifacts of previous rulers of Eternia was, Catra stopped and stood in front of the previous Empress Mara’s sword, that was being displayed in a glass cage, “This sword is lovely, who did it belong to?” 

“It belonged to my mother, Empress Mara,” Adora spoke, staring at her reflection in the sword’s blade, “She was an outstanding warrior, they called her, She-Ra, she wanted to be a different empress, not the one who would just stay behind, especially during the war with the Horde,” she side eyed Catra, “So she volunteered to fight in the war, at the end, she sacrificed herself and then I became empress,” she bit her lip, she was not going to cry in front of Lord Catra. 

Catra hung her head and looked at the floor, “She sounded like a wonderful woman,” the brunette murmured, “I’m sorry for your lost and that we had to go through an unnecessary war, but as you know,” she looked up at Adora, “I’m going to fix the Horde’s name and restore the damage that we did,” Adora’s eyes met Catra’s, “I know I cannot bring your mother back, but I will try to change Etheria for the better.”

Adora sniffled and wiped her nose, “Yeah, you’re right, you can’t bring my mother back, but honestly, I had you pegged wrong Lord Catra, I think I can trust you to clear the Horde’s name,” Catra smirked, “Anyways, shall we continue with the tour?”

  
  
  


The two girls were standing on a balcony that overlooked the kingdom of Eternia, “Lord Catra, just to be clear, you’ve been the one who’s been sending me those letters, weren’t you?”

“You’re a clever one aren’t you?” Catra hummed, “I noticed in your last letter, your tone sounds different than usual,” Adora pursed her lips, “Why is that my queen?”

Adora looked away from Catra, “Well-”

The brunette let out a high-pitched giggle, “Actually no, I understand, now that you’ve figured out I am the one who’s been sending you the letters, I can’t blame you for being cautious about sharing your information.”

Adora chuckled awkwardly, “Yeah… hey, I remember that one letter where you said that if I can figure out who you are, I would be rewarded Applesauce?”

“I did say that didn’t I?” Catra sighed, “Well, a deal is a deal,” she raised an eyebrow cockily at Adora, “She’ll be coming by soon, my queen.”

The blonde looked out in the scenery, she saw how the sky was slowly turning a cotton candy pink, “You know, back when I was just a girl,” Adora talked, “My mother and I would always practice sparing together,” she softly chuckled, “I would always lose of course, but after we practiced, we would always go to this balcony and watch the sunset.”

“Like what we’re doing now?” Catra asked, Adora looked at the girl and nodded. Catra looked at the sky and an idea popped into her head, she turned back to Adora, “You know, my queen, I’m also considered a skill fighter back in the Horde, how about we settle which one of us is stronger and spare together? Afterwards, we can watch the sunset again, like what you did with your mother back then,” Adora looked at Catra with surprise and opened her mouth, “I know this wouldn’t be as significant as what you have done with your mother. However I think it would be an exciting thing to do, don’t you agree?”

The empress looked down at the outfit she was wearing, she chuckled, “You’re lucky I decided not to wear my gown today,” Adora led Catra to the room where she would spare her mother, the blonde grabbed some mats from the corners and placed them on the ground.

“Don’t expect me to go easy on you, just because you have a pretty face, my queen,” Catra teased as she was getting into her fighting stance.

Adora rolled her eyes and smirked confidently, “It goes both ways, my lord.”

Catra’s face turned red, did Empress Adora find her attractive as well? Her mouth gaped open and she brought her arms down from her fighting stance, exposing her head. In a swift movement, Adora launched towards her, Catra was too late to react, and before she knew it she was being thrown on the ground, the blonde on top of her, straddling her hips and holding her arm against Catra’s throat. 

The brunette was panting hard, after being thrown on the ground. Adora looked down and saw that Catra’s mismatched eyes met her own. Wait, no, Catra’s eyes are looking lower than where Adora’s eyes were. It dawned on Adora, was… Catra looking at her lips? The brunette looked away blushing and cleared her throat, “I think you can get off me now, my queen.”

Adora immediately leapt off of Catra, “S-sorry! But anyways, you want to go another round, or are you too scared I’ll beat you again?”

“Oh  _ please _ ,” Catra cackled, “That was a lucky win,” she brought her hands up into her fighting stance again, “Shall we dance?” 

  
  
  


After 5 rounds of sparring, Catra winning 2 and Adora winning 3, the two girls were back at the balcony, watching the sunset, like what Catra had intended in the first place. “You got lucky in the last round, my queen,” Catra panted as she wiped a bead of sweat off of her forehead, “If I didn’t get too tired, I think I would have pinned you down there.” 

Adora snorted, “Yeah, yeah,” she stared at the sunset, the blonde smiled as she remembered a time when her mother was still alive, “Thank you for suggesting this, it really unlocked a lot of memories for me,” she turned and smiled at Catra, “And… it may have made some new ones too,” she added hestitanly. 

“Of course my queen, anything for you,” she smirked back, Catra sighed, “I’d  _ love _ to stick around and chat more, but I’m afraid it’s time for me to head back to my own kingdom,” she kneeled down and kissed Adora’s hand one last time, “I hope to see you soon again.”

“L-likewise,” Adora blurted. 

Catra turned her back and walked away from Adora, the empress could still picture the lord’s gleaming golden brown eye and ocean blue eye in front of her and how she looked when Adora first pinned her down. She touched the spot on her hand where Catra had just kissed her, Adora could still feel the ghost of the girl’s lips lingering on her hand.  _ Thump.  _ Adora furrowed her eyebrows and she gently placed her hand above her heart, 

“Thump…?” 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thump, yes adora that means you're gonna become A SIMP. ah yes a sparring date the best ones, always filled with the sexual tension. but look at catra being all SMOOTHHH in this story she's HELLA smooth okay lol but anyways her brain just got fried for a second when she was like "OH FUCK DOES ADORA THINK IM HAWT TOO?" and then adora topped her, in the fight lOL and maybe in the future ._. BUT ANYWAYS catra is a little simp it's so cute she's fucking as heck too lol anyways, hope you guys liked today's chapter yes i said that things would get kinda crazy but it's mostly in tomorrow and saturday's chapter but YALL GOTTA TRUST THE PROCESS WHEN I SAY THINGS ARE GOING TO HEAT UP not in that way though i don't write smut LOL anyways yeah as always please comment your opinion down before it really brightens my day when I see that people ACTUALLy like my writing haha anyways yeah hope you all have a good morning/afternoon/evening :)


	6. bingo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> adora denies her feelings for catra, catra decides that her little game with the empress shall now come to an end

Ever since Adora showed Lord Catra around Eternia, she couldn’t stop thinking about the girl, which  _ really _ interfered with her work. The blonde walked down to the main castle gates and greeted Glimmer and Bow who had come to visit her again. The trio walked up to Adora’s room and all sat on her bed, “Hey guys?” the couple turned to Adora, “Weird question, but how did you guys know you had feelings for each other?” 

Bow rubbed his chin and thought for a second, “Well… for me, I figured I got feelings for Glimmer when she would always be the one I’d think about and I’d get butterflies whenever I was near her.” 

“Aw, that’s so sweet!” Glimmer exclaimed before she planted a kiss on her fiance’s cheek, “Anyways, I knew I liked Bow when I would always imagine him around me, like I would picture him in my room when he wasn’t.”

Adora let out a sigh of relief, as far as she knew, she didn’t picture Lord Catra when she was alone. Plus, the only time she got butterflies was their last meeting, which was okay, since they were topping each other every other minute, who wouldn’t flustered if that happened? And the only reason she was thinking about Lord Catra was because she was just confused. So she should be fine, right?

Glimmer glanced at Adora and raised an eyebrow, “Say… why are you asking this anyways?” she nudged the empress’s shoulder, “Do you happen to fancy someone now?” 

The boy gasped loudly, “Oh is that the case Adora?” 

“Wh-what!” Adora’s face flushed, “Of course not!” Glimmer continued to look at Adora skeptically, the blonde sighed, “I was just curious how it feels like. Plus, you guys know I don’t have time to be interested in someone, I still have to get used to being an Empress,” she tried to give her two friends a convincing smile, “Anyways let’s just change the topic.” 

  
  
  


After Glimmer and Bow left, Adora was working on her desk, but couldn’t concentrate like before. The girl groaned and closed her eyes, in the darkness, she could picture a familiar pair of mismatched eyes looking at her. She opened her eyes quickly and slammed her hands on her table as she stood up. Her heart was beating quickly again and her face turned hot, “No, no, get out of my head!”

Food, that’s what she needs, Adora was working too much these days and not getting enough nutrients, so she’s going crazy and hallucinating. She went down towards the dining hall and Madame Razz served her a nice hot bowl of soup, Adora picked up the soup spoon and scooped a nice spoonful of the broth. She looked down at the spoon and in the reflection of the soup, she could clearly see Lord Catra’s smug face, smirking at her. Adora dropped her spoon in the soup, “Nope, nope, nope, I do  _ not _ have feelings for her! Sure she’s attractive… but that’s it right?” 

  
  
  


Catra walked down the halls of the Horde’s castle, she turned the corner and ran right into a person, “Watch it!” she growled, she looked up and saw a pair of gleaming emerald eyes staring at her, “Oh, it’s just you DT, watch where you’re going next time okay?” 

They clapped their hands together, “Yes of course Kitten,” Catra rolled her eyes at the nickname.

“I should have never told you that I can turn into a cat,” she scowled.

DT shrugged, “How cold, we  _ are _ best friends, best friends tell each other secrets.”

“Please,” Catra cackled, “Don’t make me laugh, I hardly know anything about you DT, which is strange since you seem to know  _ everything _ about me.

“There’s a good reason for that,” they murmured, “Anyways how are you and your little royal girl toy doing?” Catra’s face turned red, “Don’t even try to deny it, there’s been rumors going around about you and Empress Adora, ever since the banquet at least,” they patted the brunette’s head, “I never knew you had it in you to dip someone like that, go figure.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” Catra smirked, “And I’m not going to spill any information about me and Empress Adora, there’s no way I’m going to fuel your thirst for drama.”

DT pouted, “Oh come on, the only reason I even became an advisor was to get all the dirt on the other kingdoms! You’re supposed to be serving me the drama darling!”

“Pass,” Catra walked past DT and put her hand on their shoulder, “Well, see you around DT,” she walked past them. When Catra wasn’t looking, DT took out a handkerchief and wiped away the spot on their shoulder where Catra touched.

She walked back to her room and changed into a comfortable button up, Catra walked over to her desk and sat down on her chair, she eyed a stack of paper on her desk and groaned, “Never thought ruling a kingdom would mean going through paperwork everyday. I really should catch up on it… but I also don’t really want to,” she stared at the stack of papers and decided that it’ll be a problem for Future Catra.

The brunette ripped a piece of paper and quickly scribbled on it, she took out a piece of string from a drawer and tied it around her neck, “Well, I suppose it’s time to put an end to this little game that I’ve been playing with the Empress. Hopefully it’ll end with me getting a checkmate on her,” she shrugged, “Oh well, one can only hope,” a puff of smoke appeared in the air and coming out from under her clothes was the large cat. She pounced out of her room and towards the Kingdom of Eternia.

  
  
  


It’s been 20 minutes since Adora started her paperwork, but instead of actually working, she’s been staring at the same piece of paper, gripping her pen in her fist the whole time. There was a knock on the door and the trance between Adora and the piece of paper was broken, she looked over and saw Madam Hope poke her head inside of her room, “Pardon the intrusion, Your Majesty, but I’ve noticed that you’ve been distracted lately.”

The girl dropped her pen on her desk and started to laugh nervously, “Me? Distracted?  _ What _ ? Madam Hope, that’s just ridiculous! Where did you get that idea from?” 

The woman raised an eyebrow and stared at Adora, “Your Majesty, you’ve been really jumpy today, I saw you walking backwards too and you almost broke the porcelain vase, you’ve also made a mess with the soup that Madame Razz has given you today,” she looked at the girl and pursed her lips, “I could go on you know.”

Adora raised up her two hands in defeat, “No, no, that won’t be necessary Madam Hope.” 

The woman walked into the room and stood in front of the girl, “Your Majesty, even though the banquet is over, it’s no excuse for you to slack off on your duties, if something is distracting you, you must let go,” Adora avoided eye contact with Madam Hope, “You are an empress you have to make sure your kingdom comes first, and it is my duty as your royal advisor to make you to stay on task. Do you understand my queen?”

The blonde nodded slowly, “I understand Madam Hope.” 

“Good,” Madam Hope bowed and walked out of Adora’s room, shutting the door behind her.

“She’s right, I’m an empress, I have to work hard and put my people first, that’s what Mother would have done,” Adora sighed, “I’ve to get my head together,” she slapped her cheeks with her hands and managed to work without any thoughts of Lord Catra for the next hour. 

  
  
  


It was late and Adora ended up finishing half of her work, she got up from her chair and stretched her arms. The empress walked over to her wardrobe and picked out a nice white and golden silk robe, she then walked over to her bathroom and prepared a hot bath for herself. After soaking her body in warm mineral water, she quickly dried herself and put on her robe. 

Adora walked out of the bathroom and jumped on her bed. She pulled out her old diary from the drawer next to her bed and silently wrote tomorrow’s agenda in it. There was a purring coming from a corner of her room and she saw Applesauce there, “Oh Applesauce! You’re here!” she smiled at the feline, “I suppose you’re here since you now belong to me, according to Lord Catra’s deal, correct?” 

The cat jumped on Adora’s bed and bit the top of the note that was hanging from her neck, there was a puff of smoke and Adora coughed, waving the smoke away with her hand. Sitting in front of her was a nude Lord Catra, crossing her legs together while she was biting the note between her teeth that read,  _ Bingo <3  _

The empress’s face turned a crimson red as she stared at the girl in front of her, Adora clasped a hand over her mouth as she was speechless in this situation. She didn’t know where to look, so she just allowed herself to be enchanted by Lord Catra’s mismatched eyes, “Well a deal is a deal,” the brunette cooed, “I did say if you guess who I was, you would have Applesauce,

so I suppose that means, I am all yours now, my queen.” 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well... that happened. i MEAN CATRA ISN'T WRONGGGG BUT SHE ISN'T RIGHTTTT anyways the next chapter is going to be o.O something lol btw sorry for the short chapter today, but it was one hell of an ending right? (i mean i wanted it to be one hell of an ending lol) look at adora trying to figure out if she likes catra or not, but it's for sure that she finds catra attractive so THATS A STEP RIGHT?! oh and yes DT did make an appearance in today's chapter and imma just give y'all a hint that there's some foreshadowing there ;) anyways hope you guys liked today's chapter and as always feel free to leave your opinion in the comment section just so i can get some audience feedback, i really enjoy seeing your reactions to the chapters and answering your questions haha anyways hope you all have a good morning/afternoon/evening :)


	7. distant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> catra's plan doesn't turn out the way she wanted it to / / someone plots

_ SMACK! _

The force of the slap threw Catra’s body backwards, almost making her fall off of the bed, she looked up at Adora, tears poking out of the corner of her eyes, “Ow! What was that for?!” Her right cheek was stinging and she placed her cold hand over it, “That  _ really _ hurt!”

Still blushing furiously, Adora looked away from the naked girl on her bed, “ _ Yeah _ ! That was kind of the point!” she quickly took a glance at Catra, but covered her eyes, “Now will you  _ please _ put on some clothes!”

Catra looked down at her body, “Oh right, forgot that happens when I transform back,” she muttered. The brunette smirked at Adora, who was still avoiding eye contact, “What, don’t like the view my queen-” Immediately, the girl was hit in the face with one of the blankets that was resting on Adora’s bed.

“Cover yourself!” Adora hissed.

The shorter girl draped the cloth over her body, “You’re so feisty! I like it,” she cockily said.

After Catra was somewhat clothed now, Adora turned and faced the girl, “You’re a therianthrope,” she bit her lip, “So the rumors were true.”

The girl nodded, “Yeah, I don’t know how those rumors spread, there’s only a handful of people who know it’s true. They either walked in on me mid-transformation, or I told them, ” she looked at Adora and smiled a bit, “I trust you enough to tell you so… here I am,” she awkwardly laughed. 

“You want to talk to me about trust?” Adora coldly said, “Don’t make me laugh, Lord Catra,” the brunette flinched at the tone of Adora’s voice, “You’ve been sending me anonymous notes for months, and I thought it was just being delivered by an intelligent cat, but it was actually  _ you _ ,” Adora glared at the girl, “You manipulated the situation since you wanted to play a game in which if I correctly guess who you were, I would get Applesauce, who was actually you.”

“My queen-”

Adora rubbed her chin, “Oh right, and at the banquet you deliberately hinted that you were the one sending me the notes, just so I can fall into your little trap and become your little toy. Isn’t that right, Lord Catra?” Adora said calculatedly. 

Catra bit her lip nervously, there was nothing clever she could think of to crawl out of this situation, “Look… I know it sounds bad but-”

“It  _ is _ bad!” Adora cried, “You didn’t even think about the consequences of your actions, you didn’t think about how  _ I _ would feel! All you did was just play me like your little pawn! Is that all I am to you? Is all of this just a cruel little game?” 

The brunette desperately racked her brain, she didn’t know what to say! She was definitely not going to say  _ that _ , and expose her true feelings, plus that would just probably make the situation worse! “My queen-” Catra repeated.

“I already have enough on my plate, I don’t have time to deal with a Horde  _ scum _ like you!” Right at the moment, Catra felt her heart physically break in half and never in her entire life did she want to cry more, “Just please… leave,” Adora whispered.

She hung her head and a puff of smoke appeared in the room, Adora fanned the smoke out of her face with her hand. The blonde looked at her window sill and saw Applesauce- Lord Catra, looking back at her one last time before she jumped out of her room and vanished into the night. 

Adora sighed and laid back down on her bed, she stared at the ceiling, “I always knew there was a possibility that Applesauce could be Lord Catra,” she mumbled to herself, “But I always tried to give the lord the benefit of the doubt because I thought I could trust her,” she sighed, “And I thought figuring out my feelings for  _ her _ was complicated,” she dryly laughed at herself, “I still don’t even know the answer to that yet too!” Adora sighed, “I know I already told Lord Catra off but,” she placed a hand over her heart, “Why does it feel so empty?” 

  
  
  


Catra jumped into her room and quickly transformed back into her human form and put on her clothes that were spread out on the floor, “ _ Seriously _ ?” she touched her red cheek again, “Gosh that was  _ not _ how that was supposed to go!” she groaned, “I’m Lord Catra! Ruler of the Horde! And she rejected me?” she slowly inhaled and exhaled out a breath, “You know what, I don’t need her!” she walked over and sat on her bed, burying her head in her hands, “I don’t need her,” she repeated.

She laid down on her bed and spread out her arms, “It’s okay, one rejection is fine, it’s  _ fine _ . There are other empresses, princesses, and queens all around Etheria!” she quickly ran her fingers through her thick mane, “So why do I feel like ripping out my heart?!”

Her door burst open and she saw her friend Scorpia smiling brightly at her, “Oh good, you’re still awake!” Catra growled to herself, she was  _ not _ in the mood for any of Scorpia’s antics right now, “Anyways, I was wondering if you wanted to go visit Princess Entrapta of Dryl tomorrow, she invited us over for tea and to check out some of her prototype inventions! Doesn’t that just sound  _ so _ exciting?”

The brunette glared at her friend, “Not in the mood Scorpia,” she grumbled.

Scorpia didn’t take the hint, closed the door and walked over to Catra, plopping her body right next to her on the bed, “Oh come on! Nobody is  _ not _ in the mood for tea and checking out technology! I’m not even a techy person, but it just sounds  _ so _ cool!”

Catra grabbed her friend by the collar and pulled her close to her face, “Listen, I told you, I’m  _ not _ in the mood, now get out of here!” she yelled. She pushed Scorpia off of her bed, “Just leave me alone okay!”

The taller girl frowned, “Okay… I’m here if you need to talk to me though,” she quietly spoke, Scorpia slowly stood up and left Catra alone. The brunette pursed her lips together and walked over to her balcony, and looked in the direction where Eternia was.

“Jokes on you my queen, it seems like I have already been enchanted by your charms,” she let out a sigh, “But, karma has bit back already, to think a lady like you would be interested in a ‘Horde scum,’ like me,” she bitterly laughed, “Things just do  _ not _ go in my favor, do they?” 

  
  
  


It’s been three months since Lord Catra last seen Empress Adora, and with each passing day, Catra gets more and more angstier. She’s been working hard with rebuilding her kingdom by going on diplomatic missions to different kingdoms across Etheria. Though the Horde is getting stronger and rebuilding its name every day, Catra’s mind has been deteriorating.

She looked in the mirror and gazed at her reflection. There were dark circles under Catra’s eyes, her face was thinner than ever, and she had bloodshot eyes, “I hadn’t slept at all last night,” she muttered to herself, “The work is just too much for me, I’m just so tired. But, I have a responsibility to do and with this I can prove to those that I’m strong,” she put on a fresh new outfit and went out of her room. 

She walked out of her room and saw Scorpia standing in front of her holding a cup, “Hey Catra!” she beamed as brightly as usual, “I’ve noticed these days, you’ve been really stressed out lately, so I made you this cup of tea to help sooth you.”

The brunette growled, “You shouldn’t even be here Scorpia, I thought I told you yesterday that you’re suppose to go down to Seaworthy to get recruit some sailors to guide us for our mission to Salineas!” 

“Yeah, yeah, I know! But I just wanted to give you this,” Scorpia handed out the cup and Catra immediately snatched it from Scorpia’s hands.

The girl quickly chugged the cup of tea, “Ah… that’s good…” she looked up and saw Scorpia smiling down at her, “What are you still doing here!” she barked, “Get out of my face, I have work to do!” She pushed Scorpia out of her path and walked down the corridors of her castle.

Scorpia frowned and walked the opposite direction of Catra, “You really going to let her treat you like that?” a voice called out from the shadows, Scorpia turned her head to the direction of the voice and DT walked out into the light, “Haven’t you noticed that Kitten isn’t really that balanced anymore?”

“W-what?  _ No _ ! Catra- Catra is just stressed out, and it’s understandable since she is carrying an entire kingdom on her shoulders!” Scorpia defended.

DT shrugged, “Yeah, I suppose so, but that really isn’t an excuse to treat her friend like that, is it?” they laughed, “I mean, if she even considered you a friend.”

The girl grit her teeth together, “Hey, don’t talk about Catra like that! And of  _ course _ she considers me a friend!”

They clapped their hands together, “Let’s test that theory then, shall we?” Scorpia crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, “How about this, after a couple of hours, go to her and tell Catra that you couldn’t convince any sailors in Seaworthy to accompany you to Salineas. Then, you can decide for yourself if you think Catra is a good friend or not,” DT smirked and walked past Scorpia, “I’ll be watching what happens, toodles darling.”

  
  
  


Catra was sitting at her desk and going through paperwork, she opened up a drawer to get a new bottle of ink, but saw her previous notes that she had written to Adora months ago. She shakily reached out a hand and picked up one of the messages. It's _ no fun if I just tell you who I am, so let me propose something. If you can guess who I am correctly, I will give you a respectful prize. Remember, I am going to attend the banquet you are hosting.  _

She sadly looked at the note and remembered the last conversation she had with Adora, “Ugh… did I really have to be reminded about that?” she sighed, “It’s strange, I hadn’t talked to the empress in a while, but that same feeling that I had towards her in the beginning, still lingers,” she placed a hand over her heart.

The girl placed the note back in the drawer, “Well… I’m in a good place right now, right? I didn’t need her, I’m leading my own kingdom just fine. Well, besides the fact that I’m exhausting,” she shrugged, “Everything has its pros and cons I suppose.”

Catra stood up from her desk and walked back outside to wander the corridors, but instead bumped into Scorpia again, “Oh hey Catra!” 

“Hey Scorpia, I take that you found a sailor from Seaworthy?” Catra said.

Scorpia fiddled with her feet nervously, “Yeah… about that, I couldn’t convince anyone to come with us,” she lied.

“ _ What _ ?!” Catra exclaimed, “Are you serious Scorpia? I gave you one job,  _ one _ job, and that was to convince a sailor to take us to Salineas, but you couldn’t even do that! I mean, that was such a simple task,” Catra growled, “How could you  _ possibly _ be this useless?!” Scorpia frowned and just stared at Catra, “What?” the brunette asked harshly.

“You’re a bad friend,” Scorpia murmured, that hit Catra hard and the brunette was left in the corridor with disbelief written all over her face as Scorpia turned her back on her and walked away. 

  
  
  


DT watched from behind a pillar as Scorpia walked away from Catra, they followed her into her room, “You’re packing?” they asked as they watched Scorpia pack her belongings into a bag.

“Yeah… the only reason I stayed in the Fright Zone was because Catra was here, but you were right, she was a bad friend, and I think I just need a break from all of this right now. I think I should just go somewhere where I can heal a bit. Maybe go to the other kingdoms and even maybe visit Princess Perfuma, I hadn’t seen her since the banquet.”

They rubbed their chin and slyly smiled, “Well, that’s your choice, and I support it,” DT walked out of Scorpia’s room and headed towards the direction of Madam Weaver’s chamber, “This was easier than I thought,” they muttered under their breath.

DT opened the door to the room, “Well? How did the plan go?” Madam Weaver’s smooth voice asked.

“It went well, Scorpia is leaving the Fright Zone and probably going to stay in the other kingdoms now that her little kitten has broken her heart,” they laughed.

The woman tossed DT a heavy bag full of golden coins, “Well, that’s your payment as promised.”

They caught the bag and started to count the coins in it, “I think we can finally execute the final part of the plan.”

“Patience DT, patience, we have to wait until our target is at its most vulnerable point, then we shall strike,” the corners of Madam Weaver’s lips started to curl up in a cunning smile, “Don’t you worry, Lord Catra’s tyranny will soon come to an end.” 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DT WORKING WITH MADAM WEAVER WOAHHHHHH but yeah look at catra slowly getting toxic bb is working too hard and getting stressed but dont treat scorpia like that :( anyways i wanted to make it like in season 4 where like catra is toxic (i still love her lol) and like she gets super stressed and pushes scorpia away a lot i wanted to make it like that or like connect it to that oh and yeah adora was a bit hurt since catra was lowkey manipulating her somewhat haha anyways as always please leave some comments down below just so i can get a feedback on today's chapter tbh anyways yeah hope you all have a good morning/afternoon/evening! :)


	8. mask

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> now that everyone has practically left catra, she isn't having it / / DT and madam weaver go on with their plan

Catra walked down the corridors, her vision blurring, she couldn’t get any sleep last night, whenever she closed her eyes, she was always plagued by nightmares. The most common one was about her standing on top of the Horde, but no one was behind her to support her. She yawned, “Where’s Scorpia? I think I need another cup of that tea, it was delectable,” she trudged over to where the dining hall was, “She’s probably eating right now,” she walked over to the dining hall and saw only a couple of faces, none of them being Scorpia. 

She frowned, “Did she already eat?” she wandered the corridors and grumbled to herself, “Where is she?” she walked around the castle and bumped into Madam Weaver, “Oh, good morning Madam Weaver.”

“Good morning my lord,” she bowed.

Catra sighed, “Do you know where Scorpia is? She isn’t in the dining hall for breakfast.”

Madam Weaver rubbed her chin, “Perhaps Lady Scorpia is still sleeping my lord, why don’t you check her room?” 

The brunette bit the inside of her lip and nodded, “Well, I suppose so, thank you Madam Weaver,” she turned around and started to head in the direction where Scorpia’s room was. Madam Weaver grinned maliciously as Catra walked away.

The girl speed walked over to Scorpia’s room and opened the door violently, “Scorpia?” she looked around the room, it was empty. Catra started to panic and breath heavily, “H-hey! You still aren’t mad about yesterday are you? Come on Scorpia I didn’t mean it!” she looked around the room and her eyes wandered towards Scorpia’s bed which had a piece of paper on it. 

Catra slowly walked over to the bed and shakily reached out a hand towards the piece of paper, she scanned through the words written on it.

_ Dear Catra, _

_ If you see this, I’m sorry to say that I’m now gone and I have left the Fright Zone. I don’t know what happened to you the last couple of months, but ever since then, our friendship has been falling apart, no matter how hard I tried to keep us together. Was it my fault you’ve been acting like that? If it was, I am so sorry. I am now off wandering the distant lands of Etheria to try to find myself and to become a better friend, for you. I don’t know when I will be back, but I hope you know that I still care about you very much, but right now I just need to have some time for myself. I’m sorry that you had to find out this way. Goodbye for now.  _

_ Love,  _

_ Scorpia _

The girl let the note fall out of her hands, she blankly stared at the wall in front of her, lost for words. She grit her teeth and tried her best to not to cry, Catra took in a deep breath and combed her hair with her fingers, “It’s fine, I didn’t need her too, I don’t need  _ anyone _ .”

  
  
  


Catra frowned as she looked in the mirror, she could clearly see her eye bags getting bigger and darker, her face was thin, since she has been skipping meals, too caught up in her work. She leaned down in the sink and splashed cold water on her face in an attempt to wake herself up. The brunette looked up at her reflection one last time, water dripping down from her cheek. In the mirror, she saw Scorpia’s face staring back at her, “You’re a bad friend,” the reflection of Scorpia spoke.

The girl looked at the reflection in confusion and rubbed her eyes, she looked up at her reflection again and now also saw Empress Adora staring at her, “Horde scum,” she taunted. 

She grit her teeth and Catra raised up a fist and punched the mirror, shattering the image of Adora and Scorpia. Her adrenaline was pumping so she could barely feel the pain of the glass shards stuck in her fist. She once again looked at the mirror, there was no image of Scorpia or Adora this time. The only thing Catra could see was her frowning face with some blood splatters on it, in the now broken mirror. Catra squeezed her fist, blood rushing out of her hand, but the girl could barely feel the pain, the only pain that she could feel was her heart tightening in her chest. 

  
  
  


Catra laid down in her room and carefully picked out the remaining glass shards that wedged in her fist. She leaned down and picked up a roll of bandages that she placed before and wrapped her hand around it. If she were to be honest, the only reason that she was bandaging herself was because the blood that dripped from her hand was making a mess around the castle. Her hand didn’t need mending, it was her heart and her mind that really needed it. 

She stood up and trudged mindlessly around the castle, not looking at anyone. She walked past Madam Weaver’s chamber, suddenly the door to it opened and a hand shot out of the room, pulling Catra inside. The girl was thrown on the floor and she looked up and saw DT looking down at her, “Hello Kitten,” they said.

“DT?” Catra said, standing up, “What are you doing?”

“Coup d'etat,” a voice said from the shadows, Catra turned to where the voice was coming from, and out from the shadows came Madam Weaver, wearing her mask.

Catra raised an eyebrow, “What are you talking about?” she turned to DT, “What’s happening?”

They walked up to Catra and poked the center of her chest, “We decided it’s time for a change around here. She’s going to be our new ruler now,” DT said, pointing to Madam Weaver.

The brunette started to cackle, “You’ve got to be kidding me DT, Madam Weaver?  _ Her _ ?” 

“I don’t go by Madam Weaver anymore,” the woman extended a hand out to Catra, “Call me  _ Shadow Weaver _ .” 

Catra snickered, “Shadow Weaver, that’s such a dumb name,” she laughed, “Oh no Shadow Weaver is coming to get me! Very scary,” the woman frowned and she brought her hand into a fist and in a moment, Catra was being binded by the shadows, “Ugh!” The girl desperately tried to free herself from the shadows, but it was helpless.

The woman smiled, “Well isn’t this fascinating?” Tears formed in the corner of Catra’s eyes, she looked up at Madam- Shadow Weaver and saw the gem on her mask glow, “I’ve been spending  _ years _ mastering the arts of dark magic, now look at me, I’m the most powerful being on Etheria!”

The girl continued to escape from the bind of the shadows, “I understand why you would betray me Madam Weaver, but-” she turned to DT with betrayal on her face, “why would  _ you _ ?”

DT shrugged, “Well, long story short, she bribed me,” they pointed at Shadow Weaver, “Plus, I figured out that the only way to survive is to stay on the winning side. Who do you think would win, a child who can turn into a cat, or a woman who has now practically mastered dark magic,” Catra stared at DT, no words coming out of her mouth, “ _ Exactly _ ,” they patted Catra’s head, “Anyways, the question now is, what shall we do with you?” 

Shadow Weaver snapped her finger and two Horde guards came running, one of them being a muscular girl with dark skin and dreads and a man with pale skin and dyed green hair, “Lonie, Rogelio, take Catra to the dungeons and please make sure she doesn’t turn into a cat and escape.” The two guards obeyed Shadow Weaver’s command and restrained Catra before they led her down to the dungeons

  
  
  


Catra stared at the wall of the dungeon, this couldn’t be happening could it? All of this was one bad dream, she was still in contact with Empress Adora, Scorpia was still there, she was still the ruler of the Horde. All she needed to do was wake up! Catra slapped her face with her left hand, “Those  _ bastards _ ,” she mumbled, rubbing the cheek she had just slapped, “You’ll pay for this, I just need to escape from this hellhole.”

“Kyle,” Catra heard Lonnie say, “Guard the prisoner, Rogelio and I are going to get some ration bars to eat. Oh come  _ on _ , all you have to do is stand in front of the cell, not even you can mess this up,” she sneered, “Let’s go Rogelio.”

The brunette looked out of the cell and saw a scrawny boy, standing on guard in front of her cell, “They made this too easy,” she chuckled, she quickly transformed into a cat and squeezed through the iron bars.

“Hey! What are you-” Kyle yelled. Catra hissed and jumped on Kyle’s face, scratching him ruthlessly. The boy fell onto the ground and went unconscious when the back of his head hit the hard stone floor. Catra transformed back and put on her clothes. She patted down Kyle and managed to find a small switchblade in the boy’s pocket.

“This’ll have to do,” she murmured, she turned around and saw Lonnie, Rogelio, Shadow Weaver, and DT watching her. Catra pressed the button on the switchblade and pointed it at them,  _ Damn,  _ she thought,  _ I could probably take them all on, but now that Weaver has magic on her side, I can’t.  _ She looked behind her,  _ Should I just run? _

“Aw  _ seriously _ Kyle?” Lonnie groaned. 

Catra quickly transformed into a cat once more, holding the switchblade in her mouth. She then quickly pounced out of the dungeon and made a run for it. “Should we go after her Shadow Weaver?” Rogelio asked.

Shadow Weaver smirked, “No, let her go,” the others all looked at her curiously, the woman crossed her arms, “Just trust me, this is all part of the plan.”

  
  
  


Catra ran in her cat form aimlessly, there weren't many people outside of the Horde who knew about her abilities, the only place she could go was Eternia.  _ Will she even allow me to stay there?  _ Catra thought,  _ Well… it’s not like I have any other choice.  _

She ran towards Eternia’s territory, jumped its garden gates and leapt up to Empress Adora’s room. She sat on the window sill of Adora’s room, too tired to keep her cat form, Catra transformed back into her human form. She fell off the window sill, and looked around the room. Catra sighed and just stayed on the floor for a while, the dark magic that Shadow Weaver has inflicted on her, really did a number on her.

The door opened and Empress Adora walked into her room as she was reading a book. The blonde closed the book and looked up to see a butt naked Catra in her room. Catra cleared her throat, “Uhm.... it’s been a while my queen.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> look at that i finished my hw and i uploaded the chapter haha anyways we never got to see scorpia's letter to catra in season 4 back when scorpia left her to join the rebellion, but i feel like it would go along something like that. anyways imagine going to your room and you see that girl you ghosted for months butt naked in your room im going to have SO MUCH FUN writing adora's reaction haha anyways hope you guys enjoy this daily chapter as always feel free to comment your thoughts down below i love getting some feedback on my writing just so i can like be better for all of y'all anyways hope you all have a good morning/afternoon/evening! :)


	9. reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> catra and adora meet again after three long months

The book that Adora was holding slid out of her hand and hit the floor with a  _ thump.  _ Adora held her head with her hands and pointed at Catra, screaming loudly. Catra looked around the room and raised an eyebrow, perplexed on why Adora was screaming, so the most rational thing to do in her situation was just scream back. They both eventually stopped screaming and the blonde stopped screaming to start listening closely, she heard footsteps heading towards her room.

“Quick turn into a cat and hide!” Adora hissed at Catra, “Someone is coming! I can’t have one of my staff see a naked girl in my room!”

Catra groaned, she was  _ way _ too tired to transform back, after running from the Fright Zone over to Eternia territory  _ and _ getting dark magic used on her. However, she saw how desperate Adora looked and she couldn’t say no to her queen. So, Catra obeyed and slowly transformed into a cat, then proceeded to hide under the bed.

The door slammed open and Madam Hope came running in the room, “Your Majesty! Is everything all right? I heard screaming up here!” The advisor frantically looked around the room.

Adora sighed, “Don’t you worry Madam Hope, everything is alright.”

“Then why were you screaming my queen?”

The empress frowned at herself, she could  _ easily _ reveal Lord Catra’s hiding spot and get her thrown into the dungeons, then Adora wouldn’t have to deal with her again. But, is that really the right thing to do? Whether she liked it or not, Lord Catra trusted Adora enough to reveal her identity of being a therianthrope, so it wouldn’t be fair to her if Adora abused that trust. The blonde racked her brain, trying to think of something clever, so Madam Hope could leave her room and then she could deal with Lord Catra having the  _ audacity _ to show up at her kingdom grounds again.

“Uh…” Adora bit her lip nervously, “There was… a cockroach in my room,” the woman raised an eyebrow, “It was  _ really _ big Madam Hope, and it was just  _ monstrous _ ! It already fled out of my room though, so there’s no need to panic,” Adora gave Madam Hope an awkward crooked smile. The girl has never been a very good actress.

Madam Hope took one last look around the room, “You really are like your mother huh? Empress Mara loathed cockroaches too, I was always the one who would kill those bugs whenever she saw one,” she sighed, “Very well, forgive me for the intrusion” she bowed to Adora and walked out of the room. 

Adora walked behind Madam Hope and shut the door behind the woman, the blonde slid down the door and let out a sigh of relief. The feline came from out under the bed and turned back into her human form again.

She covered her eyes immediately, “Can you  _ please _ put on some clothes?!” Adora yelled. Catra ignored the girl’s comment. Exhausted, the brunette collapsed on the ground and closed her eyes. Adora stood up and quickly walked over to her, “W-what happened? Are you okay?” The empress grabbed a sheet from her bed and tossed it over Catra’s nude body, she turned Catra around and stared at her face.

Adora noticed how unhealthy she looked, the blonde noted how thin Catra’s face was, the eyebags under her eyes, and Catra’s injured hand. She hesitantly lifted up the sheet and quickly looked at Catra’s midriff, she noticed some black and purple scars around it. “What on Etheria has happened to you?” 

  
  
  


Catra opened her eyes and took in her surroundings, she was in the Fright Zone again, she noticed that she was sitting on a throne. The brunette smiled at herself and leaned back in her throne. Suddenly, she was falling, her body hit the cold floor and looked around, she was in the dungeons. A cage surrounded her, she grabbed the bars and tried to yell, but nothing came out of her throat. 

“You’re a bad friend,” Scorpia called out from the shadows. Catra frantically looked around, but as far as she knew, she was the only one in the room.

“Horde scum,” Adora’s voice said in the darkness. 

The two voices started to mix and echoed off of the walls of the dungeons. Catra kneeled down and covered her ears with her hands, “Stop! I know I screwed up! Why are you doing this to me?!” she managed to yell out. She uncovered her ears and saw Shadow Weaver wearing her ominous mask, walking towards her, “ _ You _ ,” Catra spat. 

The woman looked down at the brunette, “How  _ pitiful _ ,” she clenched her fist and the shadows around Catra binded her together, “Compare to me, you are  _ weak _ , yet, you thought you were fit to rule the Horde? That’s just  _ pathetic _ .”

Shadows wrapped around Catra’s body, she reached out a hand towards Shadow Weaver, “No!” the shadows wrapped around Catra’s mouth, muffling her pleas. The girl felt the shadows creep up her head and all of the sudden, everything went black.

  
  
  


“No!” Catra sat up and was panting heavily, she clenched her stomach in pain and noticed that her entire body was now wrapped in bandages and that she was wearing a robe and black slacks. The brunette turned her head and realized that she was sitting on Empress Adora’s bed. Her head was pounding, Catra brought her hand up to her head.

Adora was sitting on a chair next to the bed and hesitantly brought her hand out to comfort Catra, but ended up retracting her hand back. The blonde coughed, “Don’t worry, you’re safe,” she whispered. The shorter girl jumped at the sound of Adora’s voice and fell off of the other side of the bed, “Are you okay?” Adora ran to the other side of the bed and reached her hand out to help Catra up.

“Don’t touch me!” Catra snarled, she looked down at the floor, “I’m fine,” she added lamely. Shakily, Catra managed to stand up, “Um, thanks for bandaging me. Ugh, I don’t even know why I came here, I’ll just leave, sorry for bothering you.” Catra hugged herself and slowly walked over to the window, where she planned on turning into a cat and leaving again. 

A hand shot out and grabbed onto Catra’s gently, “Wait!” Catra turned back and her eyes met Adora’s, “You’re in no shape to go back out there, so…” Adora averted her eyes, “stay.”

Butterflies fluttered in Catra’s stomach. Reactively, she pulled away from Adora’s touch, “If those are your orders, my queen,” she mumbled. Catra held onto her stomach and limped back over to Adora’s bed and slowly laid down.

Adora followed behind Catra and sat on the chair that she placed besides the bed before, “If I may ask, what happened to you? You were really beat up when I was bandaging you.”

Catra stared at the ceiling, flashes of what happened back in the Fright Zone came back to her mind. She frowned, “I don’t want to talk about it,” she murmured. Adora bit her lip and nodded.

“I'm here if you need to talk to me you know?” Adora spoke softly.

The brunette chuckled sourly, “Would you even listen when I’m a Horde scum?” 

“Lord Catra-”

“ _ Don’t _ call me that,” Catra retorted. She didn’t deserve that title anymore, she lost everything already, Scorpia, her throne, her support,  _ everything _ , “I told you before, and I will say it again. Just call me Catra.” 

Adora nodded once again, “Catra… what I said before, I wasn’t thinking rationally, perhaps I was too harsh on you.”

The shorter girl slowly sat up from the bed and looked at the floor, “No, your reaction was acceptable, my queen. You were right, I have been manipulating you to my advantage. Though this apology was well overdue,” she got down from the bed and kneeled in front of Adora, “I’m sorry… for everything.”

“I forgive you, Catra,” she smiled down at the girl, “You should rest now,” she led Catra back to the bed and helped her lay back down, “It’s getting late.”

Catra furrowed her eyebrows, “But this is your room, my queen, I feel like I’m intruding.”

“Don’t worry about it, my l- Catra,” Adora softly smiled, “None of my guest rooms are available right now, plus I will just rest on my couch over there.”

“But my queen-”

Adora shushed her, “Just rest for now okay? You need the bed more than I do,” being too tired to argue anymore, Catra just accepted the fact that Adora was way too stubborn, so she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

The blonde smiled at the resting girl, instead going to the couch to sleep and calling it a day, Adora stood up and walked over to the balcony and stared off in the distance, she sighed, “It’s been so long since I’ve seen you,” she softly muttered to herself, “If I’m going to be completely honest with myself, I was only mad at you for a couple of days. The rest of the time we kept our distance, I really missed you, Catra.”

  
  
  


Catra woke up in a cold sweat and shot up from out of bed, waking up from another nightmare. She glanced around the room and let out a sigh of relief when she realized that she was just in Adora’s room. The girl slowly tried to get out of bed and fought with her own body, it was so sore that she could barely move. In the end, she just stayed put and stared at the ceiling, her eyes moved towards the couch, it looked like her queen had already gotten ready for the day. 

The door swung open and Adora came in with a tray of food, “Oh you’re awake!” Adora smiled brightly, “I already updated my staff that you would be staying here for a couple of days, so Madame Razz fixed you up some breakfast. It’s not much, but it’s one of my favorite meals, I hope you like it.” 

Adora handed the tray over to Catra, the brunette looked down at the tray of food. When was the last time she ate a full meal? Back when she was Lord Catra, she was so busy with her work that she would sip a couple drinks of water and eat a one or two handfuls of blueberries, or other fruit options that were lying around. Catra looked up at Adora, “It looks great my queen, thank you for this,” she picked up her fork and stuffed her mouth with some of the steaming hotcakes.

The blonde snorted, “Slow down, you might choke on your food!”

“Sorry,” Catra apologized, “It’s just… I haven’t had a real meal in a while, I’ve just been so busy with work, I’ve forgotten to take care of myself.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re here then, so I can properly take care of you and get you back in shape,” Catra raised an eyebrow and had her iconic smirk on her face. Adora blushed and turned away, “Th-this isn’t because I like you or anything, it’s just the right thing to do okay?”

Catra took another bite of her hotcakes, “Whatever you say my queen,” she singsonged. After she finished eating her breakfast, Adora ordered Madam Hope to take away the plate of food and to get Catra a fresh new outfit. 

After freshening up, Adora forced Catra to go back to bed and rest, “Madame Razz and my other staff are cleaning up the guest room right now, it’ll be done by tomorrow morning for you. But for now, just continue to rest in my bed okay? Take a nap or something, allow your body to heal up a bit.”

The brunette rolled eyes and tucked herself under the covers, “I’m not a child,” she huffed. 

“You certainly act like one sometimes,” Adora teased, “Just close your eyes okay? I’ll be here if you need anything.” Catra sighed and obeyed her queen's wishes, within minutes, she was fast asleep. Adora bit her lip nervously, questions began to fill her head. How sleep deprived was Lord Catra? What happened to her? How did she get all beat up? 

Adora pulled up a chair and sat besides the bed to watch over Catra, she leaned forward and allowed her upper body to rest on the bed. The blonde rested her chin on her arms, she watched how peaceful Catra slept, she smiled at the girl and whispered to herself, “This  _ is _ because I like you.” __

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOOK AT ADORA IM SOOOO PROUD OF HER SHE FIGURED OUT HER FEELINGS TOWARDS CATRA EEEEEEEEEEE!!! (we'll get more info on that in the next chapter (s?) i promise) okay but adora taking care of catra is just the cutest thing to me and im living for it. i thought you guys needed a bit of fluff after the last two chapters ahaha ANYWAYS yes, in this story adora says "this isn't because i like you" because GUESS WHAT I WANTED HER TO BE THE TSUNDERE JUST TO MIX THINGS UP A BIT BC CATRA WAS THE ONE SIMPING FOR ADORA IN THE START OF THIS STORY BUT LOOK AT ADORA SHE DOESN'T WANT TO ADMIT HER FEELINGS TOWARDS CATRA BUT SHUT UP SHE'S GOING TO HAVE TO EVENTUALLY AND ITS GOING TO BE GREAT anyways hope you guys liked today's chapter! as always please feel free to comment your thoughts or any questions i love reading the comments in the mornings before i go to online school haha they honestly make my day. anyways hope you all have a good morning/afternoon/evening!


	10. butterflies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> adora and catra develop their "friendship" while not knowing yet about the unsaid feelings that they have about each other / / glimmer has beef

It’s been a couple of days since Catra has been staying with Empress Adora and it’s been very therapeutic for the ex-lord. She finally was in a place where she was being taken care of and slowly, her body was beginning to heal from all of the pain Shadow Weaver had inflicted on her back when the coup d'etat had taken place.

Catra sat up from her bed and stretched, she looked around the guest room that her queen had provided for her. The brunette got out of bed and immediately transformed into a cat, she grabbed the clothes she had been previously wearing with her mouth and jumped out of the window, heading towards Empress Adora’s room.

She peeked through the window of Adora’s room and saw the girl casually brushing her golden hair as she looked in her vanity. Catra leaped into the room and returned back into her human form in midair. Adora turned around and immediately covered her eyes when she saw a nude Catra changing into clothes right in front of her.

“Must you  _ always _ greet me in the morning like that?” Adora said, trying to cover up her furious blush, “You know you could just walk into my room like a normal person, right?” 

The brunette was buttoning up her maroon shirt, “Now where’s the fun in that my queen?” she purred, “Plus, you have to admit, it’s one hell of a sight to look at in the morning, don’t you think so?” Adora flushed a deep scarlet red and threw her comb at Catra, who swiftly dodged it, “You almost got me there my queen! I must say, your aim is  _ certainly _ getting better,” Catra stuck out a tongue, to further irritate Adora.

The blonde huffed under her breath, “You are  _ so _ irritating,” she walked towards her bedroom door.

“Oh please you love it.”

Adora turned back and saw Catra tapping her foot, still standing where she was before, “Aren’t you going to join me for breakfast?”

Catra smiled at the invitation, “Well, it’ll be rude to refuse,” the empress rolled her eyes playfully and laughed as the brunette skipped over to Adora; the two girls started to head down to the dining hall where Madame Razz will be fixing up their breakfast.

  
  
  


Adora pushed her plate away and dabbed her mouth with her napkin, “That was a fine meal,” she looked over at Catra who was sipping her glass of water, “Well… I don’t want to dive into my work right away, so do you care for a stroll around the garden?”

“My queen, are you asking me on a date?” Catra grinned.

The blonde blushed but shook her head, “No, no, don’t get a big head now, Catra. I am simply asking for company while I take a break, before I head back to my work,” she stood up from her chair and offered a hand to the brunette, “So are you coming or not?” 

Catra shrugged and placed her hand in Adora’s, the two girls mutually got butterflies in their stomachs when their fingers touched. The shorter girl coughed, “Lead the way, my queen.”

The girls strolled over to where the royal garden was and they sat down on the stone bench as they watched the elegant butterflies dance on the flowers. Adora held her hand out and a blue morpho butterfly perched on her fingers, the brunette glanced at the empress who was smiling at the insect on her hand. 

“You know my queen, this was the very same spot where we technically first met,” Catra said smugly, “Good memories, no?”

The butterfly flapped its wings and flew out of Adora’s hand, the blonde raised an eyebrow skeptically at Catra and frowned, “Yes, this was when you first started your scheme of manipulation, isn’t that right?

Catra started to panic and she held up two hands, “No- my queen, I-”

Adora started to giggle and the brunette felt her heart skip a beat at the sound of the empress’s laugh, “I’m only fooling around, Catra,” the girl let out a sigh of relief and started to nervously laugh, “Anyways,” Adora turned placed her hand on Catra’s stomach, making the brunette extra nervous, “Your injuries have been healing well haven’t they?”

“Y-yeah,” Catra stuttered, trying to cover up her blush, “It still hurts, but it’s better than before.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Adora smiled as she removed her hand from Catra’s stomach, “You never told me, what exactly happened to you? How did you get all of those injuries?” Catra frowned, “Y-you don’t need to tell me if you don’t want to, I totally understand.”

The brunette sighed, “Well, I would have told someone anyways sooner or later, might as well tell you too,” Catra took in a deep breath, “I got overthrown-”

Adora gasped loudly and Catra looked at the empress, offended that she had been interrupted, “S-sorry,” the blonde sheepishly apologized.

Catra rested her chin on her hand, “It all happened so fast,” her hand started to shake as she remembered the past events. Adora took notice and placed her warm hand on top of Catra’s. Immediately, Catra’s hand stopped shaking, “My advisor, Madam Weaver- well, now called Shadow Weaver, used dark magic on me and threw me in the dungeons. I managed to escape, and Eternia was the only place I could think of going to.”

The empress whispered, “Wait… you’re telling me that the rumors about Ma-  _ Shadow _ Weaver being a user of dark magic was true too?”

The girl nodded, “Precisely, which makes her dangerous, since she is the only one that perfected dark magic, that we know of,” Catra groaned, “It’s all my fault, I knew she was practicing the dark arts and I allowed her. Since I thought with dark magic, the Horde could be more powerful than ever. I let it go too far,” she grit her teeth angrily.

Adora squeezed Catra’s hand, “Hey… it’s okay, you didn’t know it would get to this point,” they met eyes and Adora smiled gently at the girl.

Catra nodded and sniffled, “Yeah… you’re right,” she looked away from Adora and gazed at the sky, “You know, to be honest, back when I was being overthrown and while I was healing, I couldn’t figure out why my staff would side with Shadow Weaver, of all people, and turn on me,” she looked down at the floor and grimaced, “But after staying a couple days here, I think I figured it out.”

“Tell me about it?” Adora hummed.

“When we were talking, I usually pushed my work aside and just focused on you,” Adora blushed but continued to listen to Catra’s story, “But when we had that time away from each other, to keep myself from thinking about you, I would dive head first into my work and I would always overwork myself. I never got any sleep, I didn’t eat much,” she sighed, “Because I lacked on taking care of myself, my mood started to get the best of me and I acted harsh towards everyone, even my best friend, Scorpia,” Catra dryly chuckled at herself, “I would order my servants to keep working and tell my advisors to go on diplomatic mission everyday. I never gave myself a break, so I didn’t give others a break.”

The brunette rubbed the back of her neck, “I made it hell for everyone back in the Horde,” she whispered, “To be honest, I’m not even supposed to be the ruler of the Horde. Sure, I was the one who orchestrated Lord Prime’s downfall, but Scorpia was the daughter of the noblewomen who owned the Fright Zone territory. If anyone were to be a ruler, it should be her.”

Adora looked up at Catra and smiled kindly, “Then… maybe we should go and dethrone Shadow Weaver and allow Scorpia’s family to rule the Fright Zone again!” she proposed.

Catra laughed at Adora’s enthusiasm, “That’s  _ cute _ , my queen, but have you forgotten that Shadow Weaver has mastered dark magic? She’d be like  _ impossible _ to defeat! Plus, most kingdoms in Etheria are still healing from the long three years of war that we have been through already. No kingdom would  _ voluntarily _ fight in another war, unless they are forced to.” 

“I suppose you are right,” Adora sighed heavily.

The brunette placed her hand on top of Adora’s, “Hey, I don’t know about you, but I would rather enjoy the view than talk about depressing things. What about you?” Catra said, smiling at the other girl.

The empress blushed and met Catra’s eyes. Gray-blue eyes meeting mismatched eyes, “Yeah, the view  _ is _ very pleasant,” she said smoothly, while refusing to break eye contact with Catra. 

  
  
  


Princess Glimmer and her fiance, Bow, got out of their carriage and thanked the driver. Hand in hand, together they walked up to the gates of the castle of Eternia and walked in, “I wonder how Adora is doing, she’s been pretty stressed out these days, don’t you think so Glimm?” Bow hummed.

“Yeah, it’s been tough, but at least she got that distraction out of the way. Who knew it was _Lord_ _Catra_ who had been the one contacting Adora,” Glimmer rolled her eyes, “Though I despise the lord, I do wonder where she got such an intelligent cat though.”

Bow kissed her cheek, “You want a cat now don’t you my dear?”

Glimmer smiled innocently, “Well… I just want an intelligent messenger animal. Not a bird though, those are too cliche to my liking,” the couple laughed as they walked into the castle and were greeted by Adora’s advisor, Madam Hope.

“It’s good to see you again Your Majesties,” the woman bowed.

The couple bowed back at the advisor, “It goes both ways, Madam Hope,” Bow said benevolently.

Madam Hope smiled at the couple, it may not seem like it, but she really adored her empress’s two friends. Which made sense, since Glimmer and Bow would often show up at the castle to visit Adora, “I take that you are here to see Her Majesty?” Glimmer nodded excitedly, “Very well, she had just had breakfast, so she should be on her morning stroll around the garden. Would you like me to guide you there?”

“No, no, that won’t be necessary Madam Hope,” Bow said politely. 

Together, they walked through the corridors of the castle and wandered into the garden, Bow pointed at the stone bench and saw another figure sitting next to the blonde, “Hm, wonder who that is,” Glimmer thought out loud, “Adora!” she yelled as she and her fiance crept towards the stone bench. Adora glanced back and grinned at her, the figure who was sitting besides her fiend, turned her head as well to the commotion and revealed who she was. 

“ _Lord_ _Catra_?!” 

  
  
  


The brunette stared at Glimmer, “Oh it’s the princess of Brightmoon,” she muttered to Adora, “What’s she doing here?” 

Adora nudged Catra, “Those are my best friends, Glimmer and her fiance, Bow. They probably just came to check up on me again, they do that sometimes,” Catra nodded and scratched her cheek awkwardly. Hearing Adora say that her friends come to check up on her reminded her of Scorpia, and how she would always be there to take care of Catra, even when she was too stubborn to be taken care of. Catra didn’t realize how much she missed Scorpia until now. “Come on, let’s go greet them,” Adora suggested.

The two girls got up from the stone bench and walked over to where Glimmer and Bow was. Catra glanced at Glimmer who was straight up glaring at her. The brunette had a feeling that Princess Glimmer didn’t like her that much. 

“Hi Adora!” the boy said excitedly, he looked over at Catra, “Hello Lord Catra,” he said in a formal tone.

Glimmer went up and hugged Adora, “It’s so nice to see you again!” she looked over at Catra and glared at the girl, “Lord Catra,” she said coldly.

“You can just call me Catra,” the brunette said.

“Right,” Glimmer said, not so discreetly rolling her eyes, she turned to Adora and pulled her arm, “Adora, can we have a word with you real quick?” The blonde looked over at Catra who just shrugged, Glimmer forcefully pulled Adora and Bow away from where Catra was standing.

“Glimmer, what’s your problem?” Adora said in a hushed voice.

The princess raised both of her eyebrows and looked at Adora like she had grown a second head, “What’s  _ my _ problem? What’s  _ your _ problem? Remember back when we were planning the banquet? You  _ hated _ the Horde! Both of us agreed that they shouldn’t be trusted and that they were the enemy! Plus, aren't you the one who was crying over Lord Catra manipulating you with those letters a couple of months ago when you found out it was her?” Adora diverted her eyes away from the girl, “And now you’re just here being all buddy-buddy with her? Make up your mind!”

“Look Glimmer,” Adora hissed, “Catra has been through it okay? She’s lost her kingdom, her staff overthrew her! She has nowhere left to go! She showed up here and she was injured and needed help! I wasn’t going to turn my back on her even if she was from the Horde and if she was the one who manipulated me.”

The girl scoffed, “Oh  _ please _ , Lord Catra was an astounding war general before she was the lord, there’s no way she actually got overthrown! The Horde is just probably saying that just so she could stay in Eternia and spy on you,” she laughed bitterly, “I mean how stupid do they think we are?”

  
Adora opened her mouth, but immediately closed it. She couldn’t say that Shadow Weaver was a dark magic user, Glimmer is already skeptical and if Adora tells her about the dark magic, she’ll probably just laugh in her face and call Catra a liar and make fun of how gullible Adora was. Damn, she didn’t have any proof that magic was real, I mean there was Catra, but she was clearly insecure about showing her therianthrope powers to those who she doesn’t trust. She wouldn’t force her to reveal her true identity when she’s not comfortable, Catra has already been through enough. 

The girl racked her brain, was there  _ anything _ she could say to prove that she is telling the truth? Adora bit her lip nervously, there was Catra’s injuries, but the girl has already said that they have healed up already. It was no use to try to persuade Glimmer, she was stubborn enough. 

Bow stepped between the two girls who were having a full on glaring session, “Guys let’s not fight. Whether the Horde is lying or not, Adora did the right thing, she saw someone in need of help and she helped them. Anyways, we came here to check up on you Adora, how are you doing?”

Adora sighed in relief, thankful that Bow has stepped in. She could always count on him to keep the group together, “Well… things have been tough, I’ve been taking care of Catra and she’s been staying with me, because, like I said,” she stared at Glimmer, who just rolled her eyes, “She has  _ nowhere _ left to go.”

“Well, if you’re just going to babysit Catra now,” she grabbed her fiance’s arm, “Bow and I will be heading out now,” Glimmer said sourly.

“Wha- Glimmer, we rode  _ three _ hours on a carriage here!” Bow exclaimed.

The princess huffed, “You don’t think I know that? But I’m not going to stick around while Adora fraternizes with the enemy,” she tucked on Bow’s arm, “Let’s go.”

The boy sighed and walked away with his fiance, he looked back sadly at Adora as he walked away, mouthing, “I’m sorry.”

Adora scoffed at how ridiculous Glimer was being. Yeah, it was true that Adora wasn’t a huge fan of the Horde and Catra before, but she believed that people could change and Catra was proof of that! The girl sighed and slowly walked back to where Catra was standing. “Hey, what are you looking at?” 

The girl was too busy intensely looking at shadows of the bushes nearby and ignored what Adora had said. She stared at it more,  _ Was it just me,  _ Catra thought,  _ or were the shadows just bending? _

  
  
  


Catra got out of the shower dried her hair with the towel, she looked in the mirror and noticed how much healthier she looked. The eyebags under her eyes have reduced, her eyes weren’t bloodshot anymore, and her face wasn’t built like a skeleton anymore. She smiled at how far she had come. 

The girl quickly put on a silk robe that Adora’s staff had provided her and walked into her room to lie on the bed. She smiled at herself and thought back at today’s events and how Adora looked at her now.  _ Could she feel the same way I feel about her?  _ Catra thought. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eyes, she saw something move. Catra quickly sat up and turned her head to stare at the corner of the wall. 

“There it was again,” she whispered to herself, “I  _ swear _ , I saw the shadows move.”

  
  
  


Shadow Weaver stared at her cauldron which showed an image of Catra looking right back at her, she smirked cunningly and walked away from the cauldron over to the wall where there was a map of Etheria. The woman grabbed out a pen with her boney hand and circled Eternia’s territory, “So  _ that’s _ where you have run off to hide.” 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SHADOW WEAVER SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LET MY BABIES SIMP FOR EACH OTHER IN PEACE, PLEASE AND THANK YOU!!!!! anyways adora and glimmer are having SeAsOn FouR ViBEs ( bow is trying his best ) anyways look at them, BUTTERFLIES IN STOMACH WHENEVER THEY HAVE PHYSICAL CONTACT THEY ARE SO PRECIOUS I LOVE THEM SO MUCH SHADOW WEAVER DONT YOU DARE HURT MY BABIES I WILL COME FOR YOU AND YOU WILL GET WHAT YOU DESERVE WHICH IS TO ROT IN HELL FOR ALL OF ETERNITY!!!! anyways glimmer honey ily but people can change you gotta realize that okayyy?? haha i had a lot of fun making this chapter the way catra greets adora in the morning by being butt naked and in her cat form is just *chefs kiss* in my opinion anyways hope you guys enjoyed todays chapter and please leave your thoughts down below they are very much appreciated! hope you all have a good morning/afternoon/evening :)


	11. roses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> adora and catra vs feelings

Adora plucked a small white rose from the royal garden and went over to sit on the stone bench. She stared at the rose and plucked one petal off, “I should tell her,” she plucked another, “I shouldn’t tell her… I should tell her… I shouldn’t tell her,” The girl continued to do that until she ran out of petals to pluck. The last petal, “I should tell her,” Adora’s eyes widened and she took a deep breath, “Well… if the rose wants me to tell her, I shall tell her.”

“Tell who what?” a voice spoke right behind Adora.

The blonde let out a shrill scream and turned around to see the brunette smirking right at her. She placed her right hand over her heart to calm her down after the literal heart attack she had just had, “Oh it’s uh,” she looked away and blushed, “It’s nothing okay?”

Catra hummed and plopped next to the empress on the stone bench, “I’ve been looking for you my queen, you weren’t in your room this morning. I had to eat breakfast by myself, it was quite lonely.” 

“Forgive me,” Adora muttered, she rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly,  _ Did Catra really miss me? _ She thought to herself, the blonde coughed, “I was busy with my work and writing a letter to Princess Glimmer, I’m afraid we are currently not on good terms,” Catra raised an eyebrow at the mention of the princess, “I’m sorry Catra, but I had to inform Glimmer and Bow about how you were overthrown.” Adora looked over at Catra who just shrugged it off, “You’re not mad? I thought you would be mad that I told someone without your permission.”

“It’s okay my queen,” Catra said, eyeing the white rose petals on the floor, “The information would have gotten out one way or another,” she sighed, “I take that Princess Glimmer isn’t fond of me?” 

The empress laughed nervously, “Yeah… but it isn’t technically your fault, the war with the Horde has affected her a lot, she lost her father, King Micah during one of the battles after all. I also told her that you were the one who had been sending me the letters,” the brunette looked at her nervously, “Don’t worry, I didn’t expose that you were a therianthrope, I told her that the cat was just your messenger.” 

She let out a sigh of relief, “I wasn’t worried for a second,” Adora snorted at the comment.

Adora got up from the stone bench and Catra mimicked her, “I’m afraid you cannot follow me Catra,” the brunette frowned sadly, “I have a lot of work to catch up on, but I’ll see you at dinner okay?” 

“My queen-”

“I’m not mad at you I promise, I’ll make it up to you too,” she leaned down and whispered in Catra’s ear, “It’ll be a surprise,” Shivers ran down Catra’s spine and she had her mouth gaped open while she was blushing hard. Adora stood up straight and smirked at Catra, “I’ll see you soon,” the empress said cockily.

Catra watched as Adora’s back disappeared from her line of view.  _ What should I do if I can’t be with the empress the entire day?  _ The girl leaned forward and buried her face in her hands, groaning, “Ugh… my feelings for her might run deeper than I thought,” 

  
  
  


Adora waited at her balcony for her messenger dove to come back with Glimmer’s response to her letter, but nothing came. She sighed, “I don’t understand, I know she has bad blood with the Horde, but so did I. However, I changed when I met her…” she looked out of her balcony and peered into the royal garden where she saw Catra bathing in the sun’s rays.

The girl smiled at the sight, “Cute,” she whispered. The empress gave up on waiting for Glimmer’s response, so she walked back to her desk to finish up some paperwork, given to her by the other kingdoms. Her door opened and Madam Hope stepped in.

“You called for me, Your Highness?”

The blonde nodded and got out of her chair, “Yes, I was wondering if you could send one of the staff over to the kingdom of Plumeria to get a bouquet of flowers. They always have the most beautiful species over there,” Madam Hope nodded, “Also, inform Madame Razz to prepare a nice meal for Catra and I. After all of those are prepared, everyone can have the day off.”

The woman bowed, “As you wish my queen,” she walked out of the door and left the girl alone in her study. Adora took out a piece of paper and scribbled on it, she then folded it up and crept into Catra’s room. Gently, she placed it on her bed and left the room. 

  
  
  


Catra slowly opened her eyes and yawned, “That was a good nap,” she stretched her arms and got up from the stone bench. The girl drowsily dragged her feet one after another and somehow managed to get into her room. She rubbed her eyes and closed her door, out of the corner of her eye, she saw the shadows shift and bend into a figure that resembled Shadow Weaver.

Instinctively, Catra jumped, and transformed into a cat midair. She crawled out of the pile of her clothes that buried her. She turned back into a human and slowly put on her clothes, “Sheesh, I’ve got to stop doing that,” she huffed. Catra looked up at the spot where she saw the figure before. The girl shrugged, “Probably just my imagination or something,” she mumbled under her breath.

The girl walked over to her bed and collapsed on her bed, she felt something crinkle under her clothes. She sat up and saw a letter from her queen. She blinked and opened up the letter curiously.

_ To my dearest Catra, _

_ If you are seeing this, I have finished my work for the day. However, please don’t find me now. At 8 o’ clock, come down to the dining hall, I have given my staff the night off so just the two of us could enjoy a nice dinner together, without any interruptions. I’ll be waiting for you. _

_ Love, your queen, _

_ Adora _

Catra stared at the word “love,” for longer than she should have and bit her lip nervously, “Just the two of us huh?” she wondered out loud. She looked over at the clock that was hanging in her room, “Well then, I suppose I shall see you soon my queen,” she purred.

  
  
  


_ Tap, tap, tap.  _ Adora tapped her fingers anxiously on the table as she waited for Catra to show up for dinner. “Where could she be?” Adora muttered, she looked down at the floor where she had laid her bouquet of flowers for Catra. 

“Miss me, my queen?” a voice cooed from behind Adora, the blonde turned around and saw Catra dressed up nicely in a maroon button up shirt, black slacks, and a white jacket which was hanging off of her shoulder. She walked around the table and sat on the chair across from Adora. 

Adora rolled her eyes, “I just appreciate people being punctual.”

Catra leaned forward on her chair and gently held Adora’s chin, “Must you always play hard to get, my queen?” she let out a high pitched giggle, the blonde tried to look away so Catra couldn't see her blush, but she was already entranced by the brunette’s mismatched eyes, “Not that I mind of course, since… I will always run after you wherever you go,” she smirked.

The empress’s mouth gaped open and Catra laughed at her again, Adora coughed awkwardly, “Anyways… I hope you enjoy the meal that Madam Razz prepared for us,” she lifted the top of the lid, which revealed a lovely plate of cream pasta, “It’s not much, but it’s a delightful meal, at least to me.”

“I think it looks lovely,” Catra smiled, she grabbed a fork and twirled the pasta, “Say, was there… a specific reason why you wanted me alone tonight?” she said smugly.

Adora was lost for words, was she that easy to figure out? Or was Catra just a genius? “Uh…” she cleared her throat, “After we eat, want to head down to the garden? It’s a full moon tonight, so I think it would look quite beautiful seeing all of the flowers in the moonlight.”

Catra nodded, “That sounds nice…  _ and _ pretty romantic,” she said, raising both eyebrows at Adora. The blonde bit her lip and just silently ate her food. The rest of the dinner was filled with a lot of flirting, mutual banters, and the occasional moments where Adora would get annoyed at Catra.

  
  
  


The two girls sat up and pushed in the chairs after they finished their meal, Adora picked up the lovely bouquet of flowers and handed it over to Catra, “Here… this is for you,” she said, not looking the brunette in the eyes.

Catra smiled and accepted the bouquet, “Thank you, my queen,” together, they walked out of the dining hall and into the garden in a comfortable silence. They sat on the stone bench and Catra looked up at the moon, “It’s a lovely night isn’t it?”

“Yes… it is,” Adora said, looking at Catra’s side profile. She sighed, “Catra… to be honest, there is a specific reason that I called you out here tonight?”

“Oh? And what may that be?” 

Adora rubbed the back of her neck, “I… I just wanted to say that… the reason that I got so mad at you before, when I found out that you were Applesauce, was because I was still figuring out my feelings for you,” Catra looked at the girl, surprised by the sudden confession, “I thought that you were just playing around with my feelings and that you didn’t like me in that way at all, that all of that was just a game to you. I was upset with myself by letting my feelings get the better of me. I was unsure about my feelings about you then,” she looked into Catra’s eyes, “But I’m  _ certain _ that I have strong feelings for you now.”

Catra let out a short laugh, Adora stared at the girl, perplexed by her reaction, “I guess that means you  _ like _ me, doesn’t it my queen?” she teased.

“I-” Adora huffed under her breath, “ _ Yes _ ! I like you! What are you going to do about it?”

“I’m going to kiss you,” Catra said bluntly.

The blonde’s eyes grew wide, “You-” before she could finish her sentence, Catra grabbed Adora by her collar and pulled her into a kiss. Catra slowly pushed her tongue into Adora’s mouth and kissed her passionately. The empress pulled back from the kiss and was blushing furiously as she was gasping for air.

“Well,” Catra grinned, “I hope that made my feelings for you clear, my queen,” she said confidently.

“Y-yeah… it definitely did,” Adora stuttered, bringing two fingers up to touch her lips. She was still stunned at what happened and couldn’t believe that she just kissed Catra! “ _ W-wow… _ ” she breathed out.

Catra laughed at Adora’s reaction, “Thank you again for the bouquet, it’s very lovely,” she slowly sat up from the stone bench and then straddled on Adora’s hips, “But in all honesty, the kiss was a far superior gift.”

“Is that so?” Adora grinned, “Well then, I have another gift for you,” she gently placed her hand at the back of Catra’s head and leaned up to meet the brunette’s lips. They stayed in that position for a while as they continued to kiss under the moonlight. 

  
  
  


The past days seemed mythical to Adora, she couldn’t believe it, ever since the night where she exposed her true feelings to Catra, she has been on cloud nine. The two girls weren’t sure what exactly they were, since they mutually agreed to stay unlabeled for now. It was just simpler that way. 

Adora rubbed her forehead as she was going through a pile of papers. She was getting a headache the more she looked at it. Nevertheless, she figured the sooner she finished her papers, the sooner she could spend time with Catra. She dipped her pen in ink and frantically wrote on the paper, she heard the door open but was too in the zone to see who it was. Suddenly, her vision was blocked and she felt cold hands over her eyes.

“Guess who?” 

The blonde snorted, “Catra… I just lost my train of thought now!” the girl removed her hands from Adora’s face and smiled innocently at the blonde.

“It’s getting late, my queen, aren’t you getting tired? You’ve been working all day today already,” she complained.

Adora sat up from her chair and squeezed Catra’s cheeks, “Are you just jealous that I’ve been spending more time with a pile of paper instead of you?” Catra let out a breath through her nose. Adora laughed at what a brat Catra was, “Come on, I’ll make it up for you.”

The brunette raised an eyebrow, “How exactly would you do that?” 

With ease, Adora picked up Catra and the girl used her legs to hold onto Adora’s back. The girl threw Catra onto the bed and Adora pinned her onto the bed. The empress leaned down and gave her a hot kiss, the brunette groaned into the kiss and tangled her fingers into her partner’s hair and gently pulled it. Adora started to unbutton the blushing girl’s shirt. 

“W-wait Adora!” Catra cried.

Adora’s hands froze, “O-oh I’m sorry! I should have asked first,” she said in a defeated tone.

“N-no, it’s just that…” Catra covered her red face with her hands, “it was just really sudden, I got surprised but I’m okay with it, don’t worry,” she said.

“Y-you sure?” Adora said hesitantly, “I don’t want to force you to do anything.” 

“I  _ promise _ ,” Catra confirmed, giving Adora a shy smile.

The girl nodded and kissed Catra lustfully as she continued to unbutton Catra’s shirt. The brunette shifted at the touch of Adora’s fingertips on her, Adora softly shushed her, “Don’t worry… just relax…” the blonde kissed Catra’s neck and she let out a shaky breath in response. Adora leaned in and nipped the brunette’s ear and whispered in it in a low, husky tone, 

“I’ll take  _ good _ care of you.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well that just happened. anyways if you are familiar with my other works (specifically "no strings attached" if you haven't read it please check it out, don't mind me just advertising my own story lmao) anyways i DONT write smut like the ending of today's chapter is how far i would go like that's it lmao because fun fact actually really sad fact i've NEVER even had my first kiss so like i have NO idea what im writing TO BE HONEST like i CANT WRITE KISSING OR SMUT FOR MY LIFE BC I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO LMAO but just imagine this ADORA TOPS CATRA AND CATRA IS A NEEDY BRATTY BOTTOM anyways yeah this chapter was JUST PURE FLUFF LET ME HAVE IT OKAY?! but look at adora admitting her feelings and then proceeding to top the girl who was a SImP for her in the beginning of the story. now THAT'S character development if i ever seen it anyways hope you guys enjoyed todays chapter as always feel free to comment down below OHHHH before i forget YUH SHADOW WEAVER STILL HAS HER UGLY HEAD OUT THERE ADN THERE WAS A REMINDER OF THAT IN THIS CHAPTER JUST INCASE YALL GET TOO COMFORTABLE!! so yeah hope yall have a good morning/afternoon/evening :)


	12. foreboding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> adora tries to resolve her issue with glimmer

There was a warm pressure wrapped around Catra’s body, she shifted and lifted the sheets from her body. She was naked. Why was she naked? She looked over to the right of her and saw a flash of golden hair, spread out on the pillows. The brunette’s face turned a bright red when she remembered what had happened last night.

_ “Take it like a good girl…” Adora’s voice cooed, Catra whimpered as she dragged her nails across Adora’s back.  _

Catra shook her head to snap out of the trance she was in.The woman next to Catra yawned and rubbed her eyes, “Hey… come here, I miss you,” she said groggily. Adora held out two arms as an invitation for cuddles. Catra silently laughed and accepted the invitation, going right into Adora’s arms. The blonde kissed Catra’s forehead and both of them continued to doze off again in each other’s arms.

  
  
  


Adora looked in her vanity as she was putting on her dress. She hummed to herself a tune as the girl brushed her hair. The door opened and Catra walked in wearing a black suit, “I’m almost ready Catra, give me one more minute.”

The brunette strolled behind Adora and kissed her neck, “You look beautiful.”

“Thanks,” Adora blushed, she sighed, “But looks aren’t going to help me in my situation. Glimmer and I haven’t really been talking since that day in the garden, I’m nervous to go to Brightmoon, what if she hates me forever?” The girl’s hands started to shake anxiously.

“Hey…” Catra held Adora’s hands and looked at her, smiling gently, “Don’t worry, you two were best friends right? She’ll forgive you, she’s always been there for you, she won’t give up on you. But what if she does? What if I screwed up everything and she already hates me forever?” Adora raised an eyebrow at Catra’s rambling and the brunette looked away, “Sorry… it’s just, ugh, I haven’t talked to Scorpia too and I feel really guilty on how we left things.”

Adora laughed quietly, “Hey, it’s like you said, Scorpia won’t give up on you, and hopefully neither would Glimmer in my situation,” she pecked the corner of Catra’s lip, “We’ll get through this together okay?” 

The girl nodded, “Yeah… you’re right, everything will be fine,” she whispered, “Oh also, I don’t think we should tell anyone about us right now, since… Princess Glimmer isn’t the biggest fan of me. If she knows that you were sleeping with me, it’ll probably just make the situation worse.”

“Yeah… I suppose you’re right,” Adora said, biting her lip. She sighed and the empress held out her hand, “Now come on, the carriage had been waiting for us for forever. It’s a long trip to Brightmoon.”

  
  
  


After a long three hour carriage ride, they stepped out of the carriage and Catra practically had to drag Adora away from petting the carriage horses before they finally made it to the gates of Brightmoon. Adora started to shake nervously but Catra placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, “Hey, look at me, it’ll be alright.”

The blonde nodded and the gate of Brightmoon’s castle started to lower and they walked into the throne room where Angella was sitting. Catra gulped as she watched at how the numerous Brightmoon guards eyed her down. This was the first time she would be meeting the Queen of Brightmoon, she prayed that she wouldn’t screw this up. 

Adora and Catra kneeled before the queen, “Empress Adora, Lord Catra.”

“You can just call me Catra,” the brunette blurted out, Queen Angella stared at the girl and she felt herself shrink under the intimidating presence, “Sorry…” she cringed at herself. Why did she make it a habit to correct people about her title? 

The woman let out a deep breath, “Anyways, Adora, what are you doing here? I didn’t know you were coming over today?”

She stood up from her kneeling position, “I wanted to talk to Glimmer, the two of us haven’t been getting along that well lately,” Adora sighed, “I wanted to sort some things out with her today.”

“Ah yes,” the queen looked at Catra, “Glimmer has informed me about your current situation with her. She has been rather difficult lately about it, we’ve been getting into arguments since I thought it was quite noble of you to take in someone, even if they were from the  _ Horde _ . I mean no offense… Catra.”

The brunette stood up next to Adora and shrugged, “N-none taken Queen Angella,” Catra was still mentally beating herself up for correcting the Queen of Brightmoon.

“Well then, Glimmer is currently guiding someone around Brightmoon for a tour, but I suppose you two can catch up with her,” Angella smiled softly at Adora, “I hope you and Glimmer figure out your problem,” she slightly bowed her head to Catra, “It was… nice meeting you L- Catra.”

Catra bowed her head back, “Likewise,” Adora gently tugged her arm and the two of them wandered the castle grounds in search of Princess Glimmer, “Ugh… I totally embarrassed myself in front of the queen didn’t I?” They walked out into the Brightmoon gardens.

Adora snorted, “It’ll be alright! Don’t beat yourself up too much about it.”

“Whatever, I’m going to go back and find her later after you resolve your problem with Princess Glimmer.”

The blonde smiled at the grumbling girl and she pointed in the distance, “I think I see her! Glimmer!” she called out. 

In the distance, Catra could see three figures, Adora and her strolled together closer towards them and the brunette could see Princess Glimmer, along with Princess Perfuma and… “ _ Scorpia _ ?!” 

  
  
  


Catra gaped her mouth open when she saw her old friend again, “S-Scorpia… what are you doing here? I- I didn’t know you would be here,” she mumbled softly.

“Catra!” Scorpia said excitedly, “You’re here!” she ran over to the brunette and brought her into a tight bear hug, “I missed you so much!” Catra buried her face in the crook of Scorpia’s neck and sniffled as tears rolled down her face.

Why was Scorpia so happy to see her? Isn’t she mad at all? 

Scorpia smiled at her, “Come on Catra, we have so much to talk about!” she grabbed the girl by the hand and broke off from the other girls, who were going to have a conversation of their own, and walked to the other side of the garden.

“Adora! It’s good to see you again!” Perfuma said excitedly.

The empress smiled at the girl, “You too Perfuma,” she looked over at Glimmer who was glaring towards the direction were Scorpia and Catra headed. Perfuma pursed her lips nervously and decided to leave the two girls alone and went off to where Scorpia and Catra were. She didn’t feel like getting in between Glimmer and Adora’s conversation. 

Glimmer glared daggers at Adora, “Adora what are you doing here, but more importantly, what was  _ she _ doing here?” 

“Glimmer-”

The girl scoffed, “Are you going to lecture me like what my mom did and say how you were saving her? We get it Adora, you’re a hero okay! But it doesn’t matter to me, since in my eyes Catra and the Horde will always be my enemy. I don’t care if you’re going to talk to me about how Catra is different or whatnot.” 

“She  _ is _ different!” Adora sighed, “Look Glimmer, I’m tired of fighting, and I just came here so we can just sort things out okay?” Glimmer looked away from her friend, “Look…” Adora placed the girl’s hands in hers, “I  _ know _ you have bad blood with the Horde, I did too! But, like I said, Catra  _ is _ different, okay? Back when she was the leader of the Horde, she wanted to clear up the Horde’s name! She  _ really _ wanted to use her power for the greater good!”

Adora continued, “You don’t have to forgive the Horde for the war and about your father, I haven’t forgiven the Horde for taking Mara away from me. But, at least give Catra a chance okay? She’s different, in a good way.”

The girl nodded slightly, “I’m also tired of fighting,” she looked up at Adora and smiled, “I’ll give Catra a chance, but that doesn’t mean I won’t have my eye on her.”

“Deal,” Adora smiled back, “Awkward post-arguing hug?” She said, holding out her arms.

Glimmer rolled her eyes playfully, “Awkward post-arguing hug,” she echoed before she walked into Adora’s warm embrace.

  
  
  


Catra bit her lip nervously as Scorpia talked passionately, “Exploring Etheria was great! I went over to the Crimson Waste! You know, apparently it’s not deserted and there are  _ plenty _ of people who live there! They are pretty mean, but I think we got along quite well,” Perfuma walked over to the pair and stood next to Scorpia, “After that, I took a carriage over to Plumeria and I’ve been staying there the whole time.”

“That’s right,” Perfuma hummed, “Scorpia wanted to see the other kingdoms so I made appointments with the neighboring kingdoms for tours so Scorpia could explore more. That’s why we are here at Brightmoon so Glimmer could show Scorpia around a bit!”

The bigger girl grinned, “That’s right! We went to the Kingdom of Snows, Salineas, Dyl, oh man, it was just  _ great _ ! So how have you been doing Catra? I really missed you, you know that?”

The brunette looked up at Scorpia with tears poking out of the corner of her eyes, “Aren’t you mad at me?! Why aren’t you mad at me! I was terrible to you! And yet you’re here just talking to me casually about your journeys when you left? You’re supposed to be yelling at me about how I was such a bad friend! So yell at me damnit!” 

Perfuma and Scorpia exchanged a look and the girl placed a comforting hand on Catra’s shoulder, “Look to be honest, I  _ was _ a bit mad at you for acting out like that,” she looked over at Perfuma and smiled, “But during my stay at Plumeria, Perfuma really helped me out with sorting my feelings. I was just saddened that you have been pushing away our friendship. I’m not mad at you Catra.”

“But I still did terrible things,” Catra muttered.

“There’s always room to fix your mistakes,” Scorpia replied.

“I was a bad friend.”

“Now you can learn to be a better one.”

“I’m sorry Scorpia.”

Scorpia gave Catra another hug and smiled, “I can’t forgive you just yet, since what you really did hurt, but we can get through this together, can’t we?” The brunette nodded and smiled, she  _ really _ didn’t deserve Scorpia.

Perfuma also joined the hug and sighed happily, “Ah, don’t you just  _ love _ harmony?” 

After the big group hug, Catra eyed Perfuma and Scorpia, she pointed at the two of them, “So… are you guys together now?” 

The two girls blushed at Catra’s comment and avoided eye contact with each other, “C-Catra! Y-you can’t just say things like that!” Scorpia sputtered, “We aren’t a couple okay! We’re  _ just _ friends!”

The brunette laughed at how dorky Scorpia was, “Alright, alright,” she sighed, “Well, I’m going to find Queen Angella, when Adora and I first came here I was rude to her and the guilt has been practically eating me alive,” she left the two girls and wandered back into the castle’s corridors. 

Glimmer and Adora found Perfuma and Scorpia together after a couple of minutes, “Hey where’s Catra?” Adora wondered.

“Oh she went back inside to find Queen Angella to apologize for being rude when she came to Brightmoon,” Scorpia explained.

Adora laughed, “Oh yeah, she was pretty awkwardly in front of your mom,” she nudged Glimmer’s shoulder, Adora pointed at Perfuma and Scorpia, “So are you two dating?” she blurted. 

  
  
  


Catra walked around the castle, back towards the throne room, “Huh… that’s weird, where are all of the guards?” she whispered. She turned the corner and saw Queen Angella sitting on her throne, “Hello Your Majesty, I just wanted to apolo-”

Suddenly, she fell and was being tied up by something, “What the-” she looked at her hands and saw the shadows binding them together. This all felt familiar, Catra grit her teeth together and looked back up at Queen Angella. Shadows swirled at the woman, but she was binded down like Catra, so it was  _ impossible _ for her to escape, “ _ Shadow Weaver… _ ”

The woman let out a shrill scream and suddenly she fell off of the throne and onto the stairs that led up to it. The shadow binds around Catra’s body released her from its deadly grip and she scrambled over towards the queen, “Queen Angella!” The girl inspected her body, there were multiple hideously raw, deep cuts across her stomach that were oozing with thick red blood, her veins started to pop out and began to turn black and a dark purple. How exactly powerful was Shadow Weaver?

There was bleeding coming out of the queen’s head too. She probably had a major concussion after falling down those stairs, “That bastard,” Catra hissed, she rested Queen Angella’s head on her lap, “Everything is going to be alright, Your Majesty. You’re going to be alright.”

No response came from the woman, Catra cursed under her breath, she figured that the fall probably knocked her out cold.

Catra started to panic, she quickly pressed her hands against the cuts to try to stop it from bleeding, but luck was not on her side. She checked the Queen’s pulse, it was barely there. “Come on… come on… ” Catra muttered. Again, she checked the pulse, and now, there was nothing.

Her hands started to shake and she looked down at them, they were covered in blood. Catra looked around the room, her adrenaline pumping like crazy,  _ where _ was everyone?  _ Why _ weren’t the guards stationed like they were before?  _ What _ was Shadow Weaver planning?

The brunette heard footsteps coming towards the throne room, she looked around frantically, there was no place she could hide and it was too late for her to transform. She looked behind her and saw Adora, Perfuma, Scorpia, and Glimmer staring at her hovering over Queen Angella’s battered body. Perfuma clasped her hands over her mouth and Catra’s desperate eyes met with Adora’s bewildered eyes. This wasn’t what it looked like! 

“ _ M-mom… _ ?”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SHE HAD TO GO OKAY?! IM SORRY IT HURTED ME WHEN I WAS WRITING THIS BUT SHE HAD TO GO!!! PLEASE DONT COME FOR ME GUYS I MADE A LOT OF FORESHADOWING ABOUT ANGELLA'S DEATH EVEN IN THE FIRST CHAPTER WHEN GLIMMER WAS LIKE "i cant wait to be a queen, but i also dont want my mom to die" WELL GUESS WHAT GLIMMER YOU'RE GONNA BE A QUEEN NOW SO YUH. but anyways at least adora and glimmer made up right? NO ALL THAT PROGRESS IS GOING TO GO DOWN THE DRAIN BC OF A MISUNDERSTANDING I MEAN BUT CAN YOU BLAME GLIMMER IF YOU SAW SOMEONE THAT YOU THOUGHT WAS A SPY AND THEY ARE OVER HER MOM'S DEAD BODY IDK MAN THAT'S PRETTY SUS!! but HEY look on the bright side, scorpia and perfuma showed up this chapter :D but anyways hold onto your seatbelts everyone shits gonna break lose but yeah shadow weaver was CLEARLY STALKING CATRA like damn girl give catra a break, weirdo. anyways hope you guys like this chapter IM SORRY IT HAD TO HAPPEN anyways but please feel free to comment your thoughts down below im probably going to get yelled at lmao but anyways hope you guys have a good morning/afternoon/evening! though im not sure if i ruined it with the ending of this chapter LMAO I LOVE YOU GUYS <3 :)


	13. lying in your arms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> communication is key

Everything was distorted, Catra could only see red, and the ringing in her ear was getting louder and louder. Blood was all over her shaky hands, Catra grit her teeth. Was this what Shadow Weaver was planning? To frame her of the murder of Queen Angella? No, that can’t  _ just _ be it, right? She saw the horrified looks of everyone in the room, “It’s not what it-”

“Mom!” Glimmer ran over her mother’s body and cradled the woman’s pale cheek in her hand. Hot tears were flowing down her cheek, she glared at Catra, “What did you do to her!” Glimmer yelled, her voice trembling a bit.

“I didn’t do anything!” Catra defended herself, “It was-”

“Guards!” the princess called out.  _ Guards? _ Catra thought to herself,  _ But, none of the guards were even here when Shadow Weaver attacked the queen!  _ Suddenly six Brightmoon guards came storming out of one of the doors.  _ What? Where were they before?! _

Glimmer pointed her finger at Catra, “General! Take her to the dungeon!”

One of the guards, General Juliet, stepped forward, “Princess, we don’t have a dungeon.”

“The _spare_ _room_! Take her away to the spare room!” Glimmer groaned.

Rage coursed through Catra’s veins and she stormed up to General Juliet and grabbed the woman by her armor plate, “Where were all of you before! There were no guards stationed to protect the queen!” everyone in the room started to murmur, “Because all of you weren’t doing your job, Queen Angella’s dead!” 

“Take her away!” Glimmer ordered. 

Two guards came from behind her and grabbed Catra by the arms as they forcefully extracted her from the room. Adora bit her lip, as she saw the brunette get apprehended, she walked up to Glimmer and placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder, “Glimmer…”

Glimmer snapped her head towards Adora and slapped her hand off of her, “What did I tell you Adora! Catra was a Horde spy that was plotting to assassinate my mother! But like always, no one listened to me!”

“That’s because you’re  _ wrong _ !” Adora raged.

The shorter girl let out a wry laugh, “Even when she  _ clearly _ killed my mother in cold blood, you’re going to defend her?”

Adora clenched her fist, she opened her mouth to retort back at Glimmer, but General Juliet stepped between the two of them. “Your Majesty… though the timing is not pleasant, Brightmoon needs a new ruler. The one who must carry the crown after Queen Angella… is you. Queen Glimmer, what are your orders?”

The new queen glared at Adora and over at Perfuma and Scorpia, who were too shocked to say anything, “Catra is to stay in the spare room,” she looked back at Adora and squinted at her, “and  _ no one _ is prohibited to visit her.”

“Very well, anything else my queen?”

Glimmer nodded, “Get the rest of the Princess Alliance, tell them it’s  _ urgent _ .”

  
  
  


The spare room… dungeon? Well, whatever it was, was very different from the ones in the Fright Zone. Instead of bleak gray walls and bars to contain her, the room Catra was in was very colorful for a dungeon, there were soft pillows spread out across the floor and even a bed and couch. But what really baffled the girl was that there was no sense of security; heck, even  _ Kyle _ is a better way to contain her than this room! There was nothing stopping Catra from escaping, especially since there was a huge open balcony right behind where Catra was sitting. She sighed and sat down on a soft couch, which almost ate her alive since it was  _ way _ too soft.

She grumbled and just decided to sit on the floor, “It would be so easy for me to just transform and get out of here,” she contemplated, “No, if I escape it’ll just make me look more guilty, and I  _ have _ to prove my innocence to them.”

There was a shuffling behind her and Scorpia fell onto the balcony with a loud  _ thump _ , “Scorpia?!” Catra hissed, “What are you doing here?”

“Shh!” Scorpia whispered, the girl crept towards Catra, “I’m not supposed to be here, but Adora and I needed to talk to you.”

“Adora?”

The bigger girl nodded, “Yeah, Perfuma is helping us by keeping a lookout and Adora is waiting to pull me up on the rope I dropped in on,” she shook her head, “Anyways, what the heck happened? You were just over the queens body! It was  _ not _ looking good for you!”

Catra grabbed Scorpia by the collar and pulled her close, “Look, listen to me Scorpia okay? I  _ didn’t _ assassinate the queen, it was Shadow Weaver!”

“Shadow Weaver…?” Scorpia thought out loud, “You mean Madam Weaver?” 

Catra sighed, “Listen to me very carefully okay? Madam Weaver has mastered dark magic and goes by Shadow Weaver-”

Scorpia gasped, “Catra this sounds-”

“I know how it sounds!” Catra snapped, she took a deep breath, “I’m sorry I got angry, it’s something I’m working on,” 

“Aw! You are?” Scorpia said, her eyes practically sparkling at her.

“ _ Yes _ , now will you please-” she took in a deep breath and calmed herself down, “Yes I am, anyways, when you left the Fright Zone, it turns out DT and Shadow Weaver, well  _ everyone _ , was conspiring against me and overthrew me. Shadow Weaver used the dark arts and just took me out! She’s gotten too powerful, and I let her!”

She brought Catra into a hug, “Look it’s alright Catra, it’s-”

“Don’t say it’s alright! Listen to me! I’m no longer the lord of the Horde, Shadow Weaver controls it now! What are we going to do? She’s way too powerful and she was the one who framed me for Queen Angella’s murder!” She threw up her hands in her air out of frustration, “No one is going to believe me too, since no one even believes that magic exists!”

“Pspspspsp” someone yelled from the balcony.

“That’s my cue,” Scorpia muttered

Catra raised an eyebrow, “Your cue was pspspspsp?”

“Adora’s idea,” the girl grinned, Catra rolled her eyes, of course Adora would make her cue for Scorpia a  _ literal _ catcall. While Catra was debating to herself whether she found the cue endearing, or idiotic, Scorpia placed her hand on Catra’s shoulder, “I believe you, don’t worry, we’ll figure this out together okay?” Catra nodded and Scorpia started to walk towards the balcony, “I’ll talk to you later okay?” she looked up at the rope, “Adora pull me up!” she yelled-whispered.

Catra walked over to the balcony and saw Adora pull Scorpia up. After her friend had made it up safely, it was Adora’s turn to go down the rope to meet Catra. Carefully, the blonde slowly went down the rope. Suddenly, her hand slipped and she was falling. Catra’s cat instincts swept in and she swiftly caught Adora in her arms, “Hello, my queen.”

“Oh! Catra,” Adora said sheepishly, the brunette carried the girl bridal style into the dungeon- uh, spareroom. The girl jumped out of Catra’s hands and looked at her worryingly, “Catra… what happened out there?”

She furrowed her eyebrows, “I was going to go back to the queen so I could apologize for my rude behavior when we first met. I wandered into the throne room and Queen Angella was just there, unsupervised by the guards. Then I felt something binding my hands from behind, I knew that it was Shadow Weaver who had done it, since the way I was being binded seemed all so familiar. Then I saw all the shadows moving and they all attacked the queen. When she fell down the stairs, she was knocked out and had a concussion by the time I went over to try to help her,” her hands started to shake as she pictured Angella’s stained blood on it, “But, it was too late, she was already bleeding out too much, I couldn’t stop it.”

Adora brought Catra into a hug, “Look, the throne follows the family tree, so that means Glimmer is now supposed to be queen. She's going to have the Princess Alliance come over and we’re going to discuss our next move.”

“Adora… what are you planning to do?” Catra said wearily.

The blonde sighed, “Okay remember when I said that maybe we could overthrow Shadow Weaver and then we could let Scorpia’s family rule the Fright Zone again?” Catra nodded, “But then, you said that it’ll be impossible since Shadow Weaver has dark magic, plus no one would join a war unless they are forced to. But, since Queen Angella is… gone,” she said softly, “Once the kingdoms find out about her passing, they would be forced to go fight the Horde since Brightmoon is a big ally to the neighboring kingdoms. Then, with the help of the other kingdoms’s forces, maybe we could take Shadow Weaver out and reclaim the throne for Scorpia!”

Catra grumbled, “Adora that’s… not actually a bad idea.”

Adora smiled at Catra’s approval for her plan, “Okay great! But, we have to warn Glimmer and the othersabout Shadow Weaver’s dark powers,” she bit her lip, “Could you maybe… turn back into Applesauce in front of Glimmer, just to prove to her that magic is real and that you’re innocent since it was Shadow Weaver who killed Queen Angella and not you?”

The brunette nodded, “Not like I have any other choice, go tell Glimmer to visit me and I’ll reveal myself to her,” she leaned up and kissed Adora’s cheek, “Good luck okay?”

  
  
  


Adora ran through the corridors of Brightmoon and bumped right into Glimmer, “Glimmer! I need to talk to you!”

“Ugh, Adora!” she sighed, “If you’re just going to try to tell me that Catra is innocent and that the Horde is our friend, I  _ don’t _ want to hear it!”

The girl was having enough of Glimmer’s stubbornness, she groaned, “Stop being so stubborn and come with me!” Adora yelled, she put an iron grip on Glimmer’s forearm and started to run in the direction of the spareroom, “Open up the doors!” she demanded the Brightmoon guards, who were standing on patrol in front of the room. They looked at Glimmer anxiously but the girl just rolled her eyes, so they opened the door for the two of them.

After the two girls went into the room, the guards closed the door to secure them inside, “Okay  _ what _ is your problem?!” Glimmer screeched, unhanding herself from Adora, she looked at Catra and sighed, “Are we here to talk or something?

The blonde smirked, “It’s more of a demonstration,” she looked over at Catra, “Catra do the thing!”

“What thing?” Glimmer wondered, suddenly there was a puff of smoke, the girl coughed and waved the smoke away from her face. She opened her eyes and instead of seeing Catra in front of her, she saw the little messenger cat on top of a pile of clothes, “Adora? Are you seeing this too?”

Adora walked over to an unamused cat and picked her up, “Yeah, this is Catra Applesauce Meowmeow,” immediately the feline wriggled in Adora’s grip and started to put of a fight, “She’s a bit of a brat,” she kissed the top her head and suddenly Catra stopped putting up a fit.

Glimmer rubbed her eyes, “That’s Catra? So she  _ really _ was a therianthrope? Magic… exists?” another puff of smoke appeared and Glimer was staring at a naked Catra, the girl looked away, “Put on some clothes!”

“Yeah I’m a therianthrope alright, magic exists Your Highness,” she said calmly as she was buttoning up her shirt, “Though, my powers are quite dull, I can only turn into a cat and wonder around Etheria,” she sighed, “Let’s just get this thing clear, the one who attacked your mother was not me, it was my ex-advisor Shadow Weaver. She used dark magic on your mother and framed me so it looked like I was the one who assassinated her.”

The cotton candy haired girl rubbed her temples, “This is such a headache, and I thought my mother’s death was enough,” she slumped to the floor and hugged her knees, “How do I know to trust you? If you were hiding that you were a therianthrope all this time, who knows what else you could be hiding?

Catra sighed, “Well… you can’t trust me, you just have to learn to trust me, especially since,” she wrapped an arm around Adora’s shoulder, “your best friend here trusts me. However, I do promise you that I am not your enemy, I am your ally.”

Glimmer bit her lip anxiously and just nodded her head in agreement “That’s fair enough. So… what are we going to do now?”

“The rest of the Princess Alliance should be close to Brightmoon by now” Adora spoke up, “I came up with a plan and I’ll propose the idea during the meeting.” The blonde walked over to Glimmer and hugged her, “Will you be alright? I mean… you just lost your mother just a couple hours ago.”

The shorter girl sighed, “I have to stay strong in this situation, the Horde is a threat to us and I have to be there to protect my people along with Etheria,” she sniffled, “I do miss her, but I  _ promise _ I will avenge her.” Glimmer stood back up and walked over to Catra, “I would like to apologize for acting rash towards you, it was unfair and it’s alright if you can’t forgive me yet. However, I would like to invite you to join the meeting with the rest of us.”

Catra smiled softly and bowed her head, “It’s alright I forgive you, and I would be honored to be present at the meeting.” 

  
  
  


The doors burst open and General Juliet came running in, “Your Majesty! The remaining members of the Princess Alliance have arrived!”

  
  
  


The table was filled with the leaders of the biggest kingdoms of Etheria. Princess Mermista of Salineas, along with her boyfriend, Seahawk, Princess Perfuma of Plumeria, Lady Scorpia, the true heir to the throne of the Fright Zone. Princess Frosta of the Kingdom of Snows, Empress Adora of Eternia, and the host of this meeting, the unofficial queen of Brightmoon, Queen Glimmer, along with her fiance, Bow. To be honest, even though she was technically Adora’s partner, Catra felt a bit out of place.

Glimmer sighed, “So, I’m sure you have all heard of Queen Angella’s death,” people started to murmur but she brought her fist to the table, “Please, save your grievances, that was  _ not _ the reason why I brought all of you over here,” she looked over at Catra, “Catra, can you please explain?”

The brunette nodded and she stood up, “I would like to inform all of you that I am no longer the lord of the Horde, I haven’t been it for a long time,” she took a deep breath, “I have been overthrown by my advisor, Shadow Weaver, who used dark magic against me.”

Again, people started to murmur and Bow whispered to himself, “So it was true…”

“I know how it sounds,” Catra continued, “Magic hasn’t been seen in Etheria for ages, but I’m the only evidence you all need for proof that magic is real. Yes I’m a therianthrope,” she rolled her eyes at herself, “No, I am not going to be transforming into my cat form  _ again _ ,” she glared at Adora, but there was no real heat behind it.”

She cleared her throat, “Anyways, Shadow Weaver was the one who was behind Queen Angella’s assassinaion, she used her dark magic to bend the shadows to kill her,” she sat back down, “Adora?”

The empress nodded and took a deep breath before she stood up, “I have a plan to propose, since neither Shadow Weaver or Catra was the real ruler of the Fright Zone, I propose that we should fight for vengeance for Queen Angella and dethrone Shadow Weaver and reclaim the Fright Zone back in Scorpia’s family name.”

“M-me?” Scorpia pointed at herself.

“Yes, you,” Adora clarified, “Is… that okay with you?”

Scorpia scratched the back of her neck awkwardly, “I mean… it’s fine by me but, my moms are already long gone and I don’t know if I am able to rule the Fright Zone, I just have no experience! Shouldn’t the throne go back to Catra?”

“No way,” Catra retorted, “I’m not reclaiming the throne for myself, I’m tired of ruling. During the past weeks, I’ve learned that there is much more to life than power,” she looked over at Scorpia, “Scorpia, the Fright Zone is legally your family’s territory, you  _ have _ to reclaim it. You don’t have to be the one to be ruling it, but we just need to take the throne away from that witch's clutches. As long as she sits on the throne, all of Etheria is in danger.”

“Alright…I understand, I hate war, but Etheria is my home,” The girl nodded, “I, Lady Scorpia, will join this fight.”

Glimmer exchanged glances with Bow and nodded, “Brightmoon will be joining this fight.”

Empress Adora smiled, “Eternia, will also be joining this fight.”

“The Kingdom of Snows, will be joining this fight,” Frosta declared.

“Plumeria will also be joining this fight,” Perfuma announced.

Everyone turned to Mermista and Seahawk who sat in their chairs awkwardly. The girl just looked away and groaned, “Alright, alright… ugh… I’m so  _ tired _ of war! But, I suppose that this is a war I have to fight. So, I guess Salineas will be joining the fight too.”

“Adventure!” Seahawk exclaimed as he stood his foot on the table.

Glimmer pursed her lips and set her hand on the table, “Then it’s settled, it’s time to vanquish the Horde for good and take back the Fright Zone,

It’s time for another war.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM FINALLY ON WINTER BREAK SCHOOL HAS BEEN A PAIN IN THE ASS AND NOW I HAVE MORE TIME TO WRITE FANFICS EVEN THOUGH I UPLOAD EVERYDAY REGARDLESS OF SCHOOL BUT YEAH! ANYWAYS WOW THIS CHAPTER WOW ANOTHER WAR OH SNAP WAR IS BAD!! okay but HEY AT LEAST THEY COMMUNICATED AND THEY ARE GOING TO BE FIGHTING TOGETHER AND NOT HAVING A CIVIL WAR AGAINST EACH OTHER!! SO THAT'S A PLUS RIGHT?! also i am so sorry that i had to kill off the hot milf lady, she had to go though. but LOOK AT ADORA HAVING HER CUE FOR SCORPIA BE "pspspps" THATS WHAT SOMEONE DOES WHEN THEY WANT THEIR CAT TO COME TO TECHNICALLY IS CALLING FOR CATRA BC SHE'S TECHINICALLY APPLESAUCE LMAO. and yes in this story it is canon that adora named catra just like in the show, catra's full name is now "catra applesauce meowmeow" its the small details yall i just hope you guys got that LMAO but if you are reading this, now you did!!! anyways as always feel free to comment down below and yeah i love seeing your comments they make me so happy haha even though yall were crying over angella's death in the last chapter ANYWAYS hope you all have a good morning/afternoon/evening! love you all! <3 :)


	14. alternation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> glimmer's coronation / / the princess alliance takes their first move towards the horde

Glimmer looked in the mirror after she brushed her hair, she sighed to herself, “Well… I always wanted to be a queen, but I suppose I didn’t fully understand what I’d have to lose for it to happen,” she stood up and draped the ceremonial robe over her.

Someone placed a hand on her shoulder, “Hey… you’ll do fine,” Adora smiled, “Your Aunt Castaspella will be joining too! I haven’t seen her in forever.”

The shorter girl pursed her lips anxiously, “Oh boy, if Aunt Casta is coming, this whole thing might be a riot. Don’t get me wrong I love her but… she can be a bit  _ much _ sometimes.”

The door burst open and a woman who was wearing a purple silk dress with very long black hair, came storming in, “Glimmer!” she yelled, the woman turned to the girl’s direct and came running towards her, bringing Glimmer into a tight, but warm, hug, “Oh Glimmer, I missed you so much!” she took a look at the girl and squeezed her cheeks as she examined her face, “Are you okay? Did those scums get you? Oh  _ wow _ , you’ve gotten so big! Look how  _ beautiful _ you look!”

“Hi Aunt Casta,” Glimmer said in an unamused tone, the girl wiggled out of her aunt’s bear grip and smiled, “Nice to see you again,” she pointed to Adora to focus the attention away from her, “Do you remember Adora?”

The woman smiled with glee and rushed over to Adora, “Oh I haven’t seen you in forever! How have you been? How’s Eternia doing? Did you finally find a suitor that suits you?” She laughed at her own terrible joke.

Adora smiled awkwardly, “Um… Eternia is doing well! But a suitor? I’m  _ not _ afraid that there’s no need for one,” she gave an awkward thumbs up and slightly nudged Glimmer.

Castaspella sighed loudly, “Glimmer… I’m very sorry to hear about Angella, she was one of my closest friends and I wish I’ve gotten to spend more time with her,” she brought Glimmer into a less aggressive hug, “I’m so sorry that you had to go through this terrible ordeal twice. But I hope you know that your aunt will be here for you,” she kissed Glimmer’s temple and smiled fondly at her niece.

Glimmer smiled at the woman, “Thanks Aunt Casta.”

“Of course my dear,” she nodded, “Anyways, the ceremony should be happening soon! Do you have your big speech ready  _ Queen _ Glimmer? Oh! I can’t wait to hear it, my niece, all grown up, some day she’s not going to need her old aunt anymore…” Adora and Glimmer exchanged an awkward glance as they listened to Castaspella rant, “Well… I’m going to head out now, can’t wait to see you out there!” the woman clapped her hands together and marched out the door where she came from.

Adora looked at Glimmer again, “ _ Yikes… _ ” they both said at the same time.

  
  
  


The castle was filled with royals from all across Etheria to witness the coronation of Brightmoon’s new queen, Queen Glimmer. Adora sat next to her friends on the chairs and waited for Glimmer to come out and be officially crowned queen. 

Mermista groaned next to her, “This is so boring, I mean there’s a whole ceremony dedicated to one person getting crowned. Like just give them the crown and we could all just go home already!” 

“Hey, didn’t you attend my coronation though?” Adora nudged Mermista, “At the end you said you really enjoyed it.”

The blue-haired girl nodded, “I did, didn’t I?” Adora shook her head enthusiastically, “But, I meant I enjoyed it when it ended, other than that, the ceremony was boring.”

Adora raised an eyebrow and opened her mouth to say something back, but she was interrupted by the ceremonial bell that rang throughout the castle. Towards the back of the castle, the guards opened the doors and Glimmer came out, looking as gorgeous as ever. She walked towards the throne where the priest was holding a small red pillow, where the crown laid on. 

Slowly, she went up the steps and bowed her head, the priest muttered a prayer under his breath and carefully placed the crown on Glimmer’s head. The girl stood up and faced the crowd, who all bowed down in her presence.

Glimmer cleared her throat, “I’m here today, because Queen Angella, my mother, has been assassinated by the Horde. We can’t let her death be in vain, there’s so much we need to do!” The people in the crowd started to stand up and listen to the girl’s speech, “The Horde still poses a threat, greater than ever, now that they are under the rule of Shadow Weaver, who we believe is a dark sorcerer. There’s no saying what she plans to do with her dark magic, but we are not going to stick around to find out! It’s time for us to protect our home, Etheria. Together, we will push out the Horde, once and for all!” 

The crowd cheered and everyone started to hug each other or cry tears of joy. Glimmer smiled at the sight and looked up at the glass ceiling where she saw the twinkling of stars, “Watch over me Mom, I won’t disappoint you. I love you.”

  
  
  


Adora stared at the glimmering sword encased in the glass box, she sighed, “I know I was the one who suggested this… but war is no joke,” she said to herself, “I already lost you in a war, Mother, what if I lose someone who I care about again…? How can I protect them?” she saw her reflection in the blue gem, engraved in the sword’s golden handle, “If you were in my position… what would you do?” 

The blonde felt a pair of arms wrap around her back, “You okay Adora?” a voice whispered. The empress looked back and saw Catra looking at the sword too, “I heard you talking to yourself…”

“Yeah…” Adora sighed, “I’m trying to figure out what my Mother would do if she were still here.”

Catra raised an eyebrow, “Well… Empress Mara was the legendary warrior, She-ra right?” She poked the glass case with her fingernails, “I think you know what to do next,” Catra smirked.

Adora bit her lip and turned away from Catra and looked at the sword again, “Well,” she carefully took out the sword from its glass case, “I’m going to protect my people and make sure no one gets hurt, no matter what.”

“Alright,” Catra grinned, “I see you,  _ She-ra _ ,” she nudged the blonde’s shoulder.

The girl blushed at the title, “She-ra…” she echoed quietly to herself. 

  
  
  


DT walked over to Shadow’s Weaver’s chamber and opened the door. They saw the woman hunched over a cauldron, even though her face was being covered by a mask, DT knew that Shadow Weaver was grinning maliciously. “Knock, knock,” DT said, “A little birdie told me that there’s a new queen of Brightmoon.” 

The woman looked up at DT and nodded her head, they pranced over to the cauldron and leaned on it, “Say, why did you even get rid of good ol’ Queen Angella, she was such a nice woman!”

“She was a nuisance,” Shadow Weaver said quietly, “Plus, remember what I said, everything connects to the grand plan,” she opened a cabinet and tossed a wilting flower in her boiling cauldron. 

DT rolled their eyes, “Are you going to tell me or are you just going to leave me hanging?” The woman ignored them and walked over to the wall where she had a map of Etheria, “Oh come on! We’re partners aren’t we? I betrayed my sweet little Kitten for you!”

She huffed under her breath, “You’ll see it soon enough! Trust the process.”

They scoffed quietly under their breath and walked out the door, “Some partner…”

  
  
  


Golden armor plates were placed onto Adora’s body, “Aren’t you going to gear up too Catra?” the empress said as she was adjusting her armor, “You know we are going to Brightmoon soon for our first war meeting right?”

Catra stretched her arms and looked around the weapon room, “I mean… nothing here is really my style you know?” 

Adora scoffed, “You’d rather look stylish on the battlefield than be protected in armor like me?” she stood up and hit her armor plate with her fist, causing a ringing sound to echo off of the walls. 

The brunette covered her ears, “Yes, I have to look stylish while I teach Shadow Weaver a lesson,” she punched palm with her right fist. Adora rolled her eyes playfully. Catra leaned up and kissed her cheek, “But I have to admit, you look very pretty, She-ra.” 

“Oh  _ please _ , are you going to call me that from now on? What happened to ‘my queen?’” Adora snickered.

Catra roamed around the weapon room, trying to find less flashy pieces of armor to put on, “I mean, which one do you prefer?” she dug through a box and pulled out a silver chest piece, “Ooh… this is nice,” she muttered to herself, “It’s not too heavy too…” 

Adora shrugged, “I mean, I just call you ‘Catra,’ why don’t you just call me ‘Adora,’ from now on. I mean I heard you address me like that before.”

“That’s true,” Catra said, finding the rest of the silver armor piece and proceeding to put it on, “But I like to sound classy, you know? Don’t I just sound so classy like that? You have to admit I do,  _ my queen _ ,” she purred. 

The blonde shrugged and helped Catra put on some of the silver armor pieces, “Yeah, yeah, whatever,” she muttered, Adora planted a kiss on Catra’s temple and held out her hand, “Come on, the carriage driver has been waiting for a while already, let’s go.”

  
  
  


A scroll of parchment that had a map of Etheria on it was spread out across the war table, Glimmer planted her finger aggressively on the Horde’s territory. “Here’s how it’s going to go, Mermista and Seahawk will be leading a battalion of ships to bombarded the coast of the Fright Zone. We just have to hope that most of the Horde’s troops would be going to defend their shore.”

The queen pointed to Perfuma and Frosta, “Both Plumeria and the Kingdom of Snow’s troops will stealthily march up towards the gates of the Horde for another distraction. While that is happening, Scorpia, Bow, Adora, Catra, and I will be going from behind the Horde’s castle to infiltrate it,” Catra nodded as she continued to listen to the battleplan, “Since Scorpia and Catra know their way around the territory the most, they will be leading us towards Shadow Weaver and we’ll finally take that witch out of power for good!”

Adora raised her hand, “Glimmer, I’m all for the plan, but do you think you should really be going with us? Don’t get me wrong, I know you are a skillful warrior, we’ve spared many times together after all, but you’ve just been crowned queen a week ago, you’re too important to lose. Brightmoon is everyone’s strongest ally, the people of Etheria would need you here. Where it’s  _ safe _ .”

“I-”

Bow placed his hand on his fiance’s shoulder, “Glimm, I think Adora is right, you’re  _ way _ too important to lose, you should just sit out this one okay?” He kissed her cheek, “We’ll be fine, you already done enough for us, you made this plan and you inspired us with that speech on your coronation day!”

Glimmer bit her lip and sighed, “I suppose you all are right…” she looked back at the map, “Well, that’s the plan everyone, I wish you all a safe battle and let’s try to not have a lot of casualties alright?”

All of them smiled at each other as they all wished their friends good luck on their own missions. Catra walked up to Scorpia, “You ready to go back to the Fright Zone?”

Scorpia sighed, “It’s been so long, but yeah,” she smiled at Catra, “We can do this.” Catra smiled back at her and the two girls regrouped with Adora and Bow. Glimmer watched out of her window as she saw all of her friends leave except for her, she walked back to the war table and sat at the head of the table.

The girl groaned into her hands, “I’m finally in this great position of power, but why do I feel so  _ useless _ ?”

  
  
  


DT barged into Shadow Weaver’s chamber, “There’s a bunch of armys that are heading towards our direction, what are you planning to do to stop them?”

Shadow Weaver stared at them and walked over to the cauldron, DT following right behind her. The woman waved her hands over misty waters, she stared into the cauldron which showed Queen Glimmer with her head in her hands, “Well then,” Shadow Weaver said, still looking at Glimmer in her cauldron,

“Looks like it’s my turn.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shadow weaver STAY AWAY FROM QUEEN GLIMMER GET YOUR MUSTY HANDS AWAY FROM MY PRECIOUS BABY GIRL YOU STAY AWAY YOU HEAR ME anyways this chapter was just like a bridge and even though im writing this story, SW keeps talking about her master / grand plan and its lowkey giving me anxiety LMAO anyways this chapter was pretty straight forward there was a couple of cute catradora moments lmao and yeah i already miss angella IM SORRY I KILLED THE HOT MILF AGAIN BUT SHE HAD TO GO OKAY?! anyways hope you guys enjoyed todays chapter again feel free to comment your opinions down below and i hope you guys have a good morning/afternoon/evening! :)


	15. return to the fright zone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> shadow weaver pays queen glimmer a visit

_ BOOM! BOOM!  _

Mermista and Seahawk both plugged their ears as they saw the explosions, Seahawk smiled excitedly, “I’ve been waiting for this!”

“Don’t say it,” Mermista said in her usual monotone voice.

“Waiting for a new-”

“Oh boy.”

“ _ Adventure _ !” Seahawk pointed at the shoreline of the Fright Zone, “Keep at it lads! Bombs away! Queen Glimmer told us to keep firing away so the others can slip into the Horde’s fortress!” 

  
  
  


Perfuma and Frosta sat with two other Plumerian guards up a cliff, as they watched both of their army’s troops march up towards the Horde’s gates. Perfuma bit her lip anxiously as she held Frosta with her right arm, “This is a suicide mission, walking up the gates like that. But I have to have faith in Glimmer and faith in our troops,” she looked down at the girl and smiled, “But no matter what, I will keep you safe Frosta.”

The little girl puffed up her cheeks, “I am capable of defending myself on my own Perfuma! You supervised my fencing lessons before! You  _ know _ how good I am!”

She patted Frosta’s head, “Yes dear, I know, but this is a real war, I can’t let anything happen to you, you’re only here to lead your troops. The Kingdom of Snows are Etheria’s second most powerful ally behind Brightmoon, do you understand?”

Frosta sighed and nodded her head slowly, “I understand,” she gazed out into the distance, “I wonder how the others are doing. I hope they are alright.”

  
  
  


Stealthily, Catra, Adora, Bow, and Scorpia turned the corner and Catra quickly knocked out the two guards on patrol, “Alright, we just need to hop the gate and take out a couple of more guards, before we make it into the fortress,” Catra said.

Scorpia nodded and clenched the gauntlet in her fist, “Okay, we can do this, we can do this.”

“It sounds easy but,” Catra grimaced, “I don’t know what other powers Shadow Weaver has…” she squeezed the daggers in her hands, “I just… I feel like she’s playing with us! It feels too easy, Horde guards are easy to fight but, is it really  _ this _ easy?”

Adora placed a hand on Catra’s shoulder, “Hey, it’ll be fine, come on let’s get moving,” Catra nodded and the four of them continued on their way. 

  
  
  


Glimmer paced back in forth in the war room, “What if they need my help? What if they are in danger? What if my plan got them all killed?” she yelled in frustration, “Ugh! This is killing me!” There was a whooshing noise behind her and she turned around to see the shadows swirling in a circle, “What the-”

The shadows compressed together and they turned into a figure, which resembled a woman wearing a long dress that was wearing a mask, “Queen Glimmer?” the voice said quietly.

“W-what are you? Is this magic?” Glimmer crept towards the shadow figure and reached out a hand to touch it, but it immediately passed through the shadows. She squinted her eyes and jumped back, “The only one who could use magic is Shadow Weaver! What do you think you’re doing here, you murderer!” 

The queen glared at the image of Shadow Weaver and opened her mouth to yell, “Guards!”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, my queen,” the woman snapped her fingers and suddenly the whole room was kept in a black bubble. Glimmer tried to run out of the room, but unfortunately the bubble was quite hard to pop, “Isn’t it fascinating? Magic, I mean.”

Glimmer clenched her teeth together, “No! I don’t think it’s fascinating! Since this magic killed my mother! Do you have no remorse? You killed my mother and you just have the  _ audacity _ to show up in front of me?” Tears streamed down Glimmer’s face, “Guards!” She yelled again desperately, she walked up to the black bubble and started to pound on it, “Why! Won’t! They! Come!?”

The image of Shadow Weaver glided over to Glimmer, “It’s a time bubble, no one outside of the bubble can hear or see, me or you. It can only be popped when I command it to,” Glimmer wiped the tears off her face as she saw Shadow Weaver glide over to the chair and sit on it, “Please, sit my queen, I just want to talk to you.”

Hesitantly, the young woman walked over to the war table and pulled out a chair, “What do you want to talk to me about? The details of how you brutally murdered my mother in cold blood?!”

“Not this time,” Shadow Weaver said smoothly, Glimmer clenched her fist and punched the face of the image. But, of course, it had no effect and the image of Shadow Weaver just reformed, “I have a proposal to make, only if you care to listen though,” she laughed, “Though, you don’t have a choice but to listen. So you best cooperate with me.”

Glimmer sighed and just nodded her head, “Fine.” The woman brought her arms out and clenched her fist, the shadows around them started to head towards her hand, Glimmer leaned forward and watched in awe, “Woah… how’d you do that?”

“Magic,  _ literally _ ,” the woman said, “It’s amazing isn’t it?” Suddenly Shadow Weaver leaned close to Glimmer and whispered in her ear, “Want to know how I got these powers?” The girl gulped but nodded her head, “Before you and me came to this world, Etheria was once a very magical planet. The first settlers, who called themselves, the First Ones, saw the magic and were afraid of it; such fools. So, they ended up gathering all the magic and storing it in the Heart of Etheria.”

The cotton candy haired girl frowned, “How do you know all of this?”

Shadow Weaver stood up and started to pace around the floor, “Back when Lord Prime was still in power, I was an advisor for Catra back when she was a mere general. She ordered me to go out into the lands to find the Watchtower, so she could give some information to Lord Prime. I went there and I found this scroll that was written in a language that I couldn’t decipher easily.”

“I went back to the Fright Zone and told Catra about it, we figured that we could decipher it together before we gave the information to Lord Prime. In the end, we figured that magic was out there and decided to keep it a secret from everyone but us. So, we both went to a ruin called the Beacon and underneath that was the Heart of Etheria.”

  
  
  


_ “Is this really the place Madam Weaver?” Catra said as she walked up the mountain, “I mean who knows if we even deciphered that scroll correctly!” _

_ The woman pointed in the distance, where there was a tall tower that seemed ancient, but strangely futuristic at the same time. The advisor turned to Catra, “Let’s not underestimate our combined brains, General Catra.” They walked towards the tower and ventured in further, where they saw the Heart of Etheria.  _

  
  
  


Glimmer was listening intensely to Shadow Weaver’s story, “The Heart of Etheria…” she murmured.

“We made it to the Heart and I was certain that this magic could help the Horde and we could win, but General Catra was skeptical about it.”

  
  
  


_ Catra stared at the Heart, “We know nothing about magic Madam Weaver, no one knows nothing about magic!” A light ball of fuzz landed on her nose and she sneezed, “Ugh… this place gives me the creeps, there was probably a reason that the First Ones sealed the magic all up!” _

_ The woman touched the light balls of fuzz and frowned, “They were cowards, with this magic we could have a turning tide on the war! We could prove our worth to the Horde! To Lord Prime! Don’t you want that Catra?” _

_ “I don’t know…” _

_ Madam Weaver reached a hand out towards the Heart which was beating above them, “If we could learn how to harness this magical power, we could be the most powerful beings on Etheria!” _

_ Catra yawned as she stepped closer to the ledge, “That does sound nice, but how does this even work?” She pointed out her pointer finger and reached towards the Heart, “Do it just touch it?”  _

_ “General!” _

_ With a light touch Catra touched the Heart and looked at Madam Weaver, “Ha! This was all ridiculous Madam Weaver!” A puff of smoke appeared and Madam Weaver was coughing as she was trying to clear the smoke out of her face. _

_ “General? Catra?” _

_ “Meow?” _

_ Madam Weaver looked down and saw a large cat sitting in front of her, that had exactly Catra’s eyes. The cat hissed and jumped up. _

_ “General Catra?” _

  
  
  


Glimmer rubbed her chin, “So  _ that’s _ how she became a therianthrope.”

“Preciously,” Shadow Weaver hummed, “It took her time to master her abilities but in the end she mastered her shapeshifting ability. It was a shame though, after that, Catra became scared of the magic, so she didn’t want to get anymore powers. She said that being a cat was enough of this magic nonsense for her.”

The girl glanced at Shadow Weaver, “What about you?”

  
  
  


_ Madam Weaver blinked at the Catra’s cat form, “So it does work…” she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The woman brought out two hands and placed them forcefully on the Heart, “Yes… I can feel it… the power. Give me more…” Madam Weaver's face started to get cracks, “More… more… more! Give me all the power!” _

_ She yelled and Catra jumped back, hissing at Madam Weaver as she saw black beams of light come out of her eyes and mouth. Black vines started to cling onto Madam Weaver’s face. Catra jumped and hissed as she clawed her advisor free from the wrath of those dark vines. But the damage has already been done. _

_ Groaning, Madam Weaver took off the excess pieces of vines that were stuck on her face, she turned to Catra who hissed at her hideous appearance. The woman was all banged up, she had scars lashed across her face, her cheek was bruised and was bleeding very badly. Madam Weaver stood up slowly and brought her hands out, “It worked! I can feel the power coursing through my veins!” _

  
  
  


Glimmer scoffed and stood up from her chair, “Because of power, you paid the price! You deserved what you got, you were greedy and selfish!”

“I admit, I went a bit overboard back then,” Shadow Weaver sighed, “I won’t deny it. However, you also cannot deny how powerful I have gotten, she snapped her fingers and the shadow ball that she was holding went back to its rightful place. With diligent training and studying the magic, have I become the most powerful being on the planet! Don’t you want to be powerful too Glimmer?” 

The queen rubbed her arm and looked down at the floor, “Well… I-”

Shadow Weaver walked over to Glimmer and looked down at her, “I know who you are, because I am like you. You felt powerless before, back when you were a princess and in the shadows of your mother,” Glimmer turned away from the woman, “Even now that you are queen, you feel powerless. You were left out by your friends who have all gone to slay me, but you don’t have to feel powerless anymore if you just go to the Heart of Etheria and free the magic! Undo the wrong doings of the First Ones!”

Glimmer furrowed her eyebrows, “What are you saying…?”

“Queen Glimmer, you are the only one who can do this, you have the most potential. Your mother was a coward, she didn’t have the capabilities that you had to save Etheria and free the magic! That's why I killed your mother so you could rise up on the throne and use your full potential to lead Etheria back to its former glory! You could lead Etheria back in the era where magic was free,” Glimmer bit her lip anxiously as she tried to think. Shadow Weaver let out a hand, “How about this, I will surrender myself and the army, you can take back the Fright Zone. For that, I will become your prisoner and I will advise you on how to free the magic of Etheria and become the most powerful queen that had ever lived! Do we have a deal?”

The girl took in a deep breath and shakily held out her hand and placed it in the image of Shadow Weaver’s hand, “We have a deal.”

  
  
  


_ BANG! _

The door was kicked open to Shadow Weaver’s chamber. Catra, Adora, Bow, and Scorpia all came running in and drew out their weapons. The woman slowly held up her hands and Bow drew his bow and arrow, prepared to shoot if she were to attack them, “Don’t you dare move! I won’t hesitate to shoot!” He said, his voice quivering a bit.

Shadow Weaver had her back turned on the four, Catra scowled, “Enough of this!” She jumped up in the air and ran towards the woman, “Shadow Weaver! You will pay for the trouble you have caused!” The woman turned around and Catra sliced across the top of Shadow Weaver’s chin, causing blood to drip down on the brunette’s shiny silver armor. Catra scoffed, “What? No magic this time?”

Shadow Weaver took a look at the four of them and took in a deep breath, 

_ “I surrender. _ ”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yall already know that shadow weaver is going to manipulate glimmer DAMMIT GLIMMER I KNOW YOU WANNA BE POWERFUL BUT YOU CANT JUST LISTEN TO A LADY WHO FUCKING KILLED YOUR MOTHER OKAY THATS NOT COOL EVEN IF THE LADY PRAISES YOU AND EVERYTHING OMG YOU HAVE SUCH A PRAISE KINK GLIMMER GOD DAMMIT!!!! anyways but yuh i hope the story of how catra and sw got their powers made sense they just like yknow touched the heart and like released some magic catra only released a couple of magic into her while sw was power hungry and like took in a lot of magic, but her body couldn't store that much power so she paid the consequences and gotten like hella banged up and scars around her face. sooo hope you guys enjoyed this story feel free to comment down below i love being all of you comment bc it really just shows that you guys actually enjoy this story haha anyways hope yall have a good morning/afternoon/evening! :)


	16. please just listen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> catra tries to reason with glimmer

“I surrender.”

Everyone stood in shock, Catra growled and grabbed Shadow Weaver by her collar, “What type of game are you playing?!” The girl let go of the woman and started to laugh, Adora, Bow, and Scorpia all gave each other awkward exchanged glances. Catra took in a deep breath and twirled her dagger in her hand, “Well, at least you accepted your death,” she lifted her dagger and swung it towards the woman.

“How  _ pathetic _ ,” the woman spat, Catra stopped herself, her blade centimeters away from striking Shadow Weaver’s mask, “Look how  _ weak _ you have become.”

Catra grit her teeth, “What the hell are you talking about?”

Shadow Weaver chuckled, “I have surrendered, I have made it clear that I wish to be your prisoner by surrendering,” Catra’s grip on her dagger grew stronger, “However, you ignored that fact and just chose to strike me instead.”

The brunette scoffed, “You’re in no position to bargain!”

The woman ignored her and continued, “You know how powerful I am, you know the things I can do, you just want to kill me because you’re  _ scared _ of me, aren’t you Catra?” Her hand started to shake, the dagger was slipping out of her fingers, Shadow Weaver looked at her shaking hand and laughed, “That’s what I thought.”

Adora brought her sword in front of her, “Leave her alone!”

“Empress Adora of Eternia, is that right?” Shadow Weaver cooed, Adora glared at the woman, “You’re close friends with Catra are you not? You know how rash she could act, but I know you are different.”

The blonde started to lower her sword, “W-what?”

Shadow Weaver shoved a numbed Catra out of her path, but luckily Scorpia caught her before her friend could fall. The woman raised Adora’s chin so they could meet eyes, “You like to use your brain in situations, so think, would your mother  _ really _ be proud of you if you striked a woman who had already surrendered?

Adora backed away from the chilling grip of Shadow Weaver, “D-Don’t talk about my mother!”

The woman kept pushing and kept walking towards Adora, but was blocked by Bow who had his bow pointed right towards her, “Stay back!”

She ignored him and kept her eyes on Adora, “You know I’m right though. Loyal, caring, compassionate, Empress Mara, she wouldn’t want you to strike a begging woman, even if that woman was someone like me,” she kneeled down and brought her hands up to Adora, “I’m your prisoner now.” 

  
  
  


Adora, Catra, and Bow walked into Brightmoon’s castle, Catra dragging a shackled Shadow Weaver behind her. They all walked towards the throne where Glimmer was waiting for them, Catra threw Shadow Weaver in front of her, who scrambled across the floor like a poor old woman and kneeled in front of the queen. 

Catra scoffed at how pitiful the woman looked, she wasn’t buying her act one bit. Shadow Weaver looked up at Glimmer, “M-my queen.”

Glimmer ignored her and ran past her to hug her friends, “Where’s everyone else? A-are they alright?”

“Scorpia wanted to ‘clean the Fright Zone up,’” Bow piped up, “You know, since it’s technically her property now. Mermista and Seahawk went back to Salineas to repair some of their broken ships, Frosta went back home, and Perfuma is helping Scorpia out in the Fright Zone.”

Catra looked over Glimmer’s shoulder and eyed Shadow Weaver. Glimmer smiled, “That’s great! Wow… my plan really worked!” Adora smiled back at her and hugged her friend. Glimmer turned back around and faced Shadow Weaver, “Guards, please escort Shadow Weaver to the dungeons.”

The brunette stepped forward, “Mind if I do it myself Queen Glimmer? I just want to keep an eye on her.” Glimmer nodded approvingly and Catra grabbed Shadow Weaver’s chains, forcefully pulling her to the dungeons, “You know, this is where I had to stay when you framed me for assassinating Queen Angella,” she opened the doors and threw Shadow Weaver in.

“It’s not too bad,” Shadow Weaver said as she looked around the room.

The girl scowled, “You’re lucky if this was my kingdom, I would have thrown you in the most miserable, dank, cell dungeon. A  _ real _ dungeon too!” Catra chained Shadow Weaver down and took off her mask, smashing it to pieces on the floor, “I don’t know what exactly you’re planning,” she said, staring at the woman's scarred face, “but trust me when I say I’m keeping an eye on you.”

Shadow Weaver reached towards her broken pieces of her mask, but Catra just kicked them away, “I hope I can get your execution planned soon,” Catra glared at the woman, “Have fun rotting away. You miserable old hag.”

  
  
  


_ Shadow Weaver stared at Glimmer through her cauldron and grinned under her mask, “Looks like it’s my turn.” _

_ DT sighed dramatically, “So are you going to tell me your plan or what? I’m dying trying to figure out what your oh grand plan is! You’re supposed to be filling me in on these things, we’re partners after all.” _

_ The woman huffed under her breath, “I had Queen Angella killed because she was a nuisance, she was in my way, plus she’s too clever to manipulate,” DT raised an eyebrow and leaned against the wall, “With her gone, that naive little Princess Glimmer was going to be crowned queen. I can use her to my advantage by praising her so she can gain my trust then I’ll make her free magic from the Heart of Etheria while I just sit back and don’t do anything. Then when the time is ready, I can absorb more of the magic and become more powerful than ever before!” _

  
  
  


Shadow Weaver stared at the walls of the… dungeon? Well it certainly didn’t really look like a dungeon, were dungeons always this colorful? The woman smiled to herself, “Just you wait, Catra. You’ll get what’s coming for you.”

The door opened and Glimmer came walking in, holding a tray of tea, “Shadow Weaver! I- uh… brought you something to drink,” she said as she poured a cup of tea for her and handed the warm cup to her.

The woman shakily accepted the cup and drank it quickly, “Thank you, my queen, you shouldn’t have.”

“So… are you going to tell me how to free the magic?” Glimmer asked curiously.

Shadow Weaver sighed, “You have to destroy the Heart of Etheria.”

Glimmer looked at the woman in shock, “Destroy it? But… what if destroying the Heart of Etheria destroys the whole planet?!” Anxiously, she poured herself a cup of tea and chugged it.

The prisoner placed a hand on top of Glimmer, “Listen to me, the Heart doesn’t necessarily mean the actual heart of the planet. The Heart of Etheria is like a storage container made by the First Ones to store the magic that they were afraid of. In order to set the stored magic of Etheria free, you need to destroy the Heart.”

The girl twitched her hand away from the touch of the woman and she stood up, “Very well, I’ll do just that.”

The door was kicked open and an enraged Catra was glaring at both Glimmer and Shadow Weaver, “What the hell are you guys talking about?!

  
  
  


Catra paced around the hallways as Glimmer was explaining what happened to her, “Look, Shadow Weaver and I made a deal! She told me that I can have these magical powers and be strong if I just unleash the magic stored in the Heart of Etheria. She said that she would surrender herself so she could advise me on how the Heart works! Isn’t that great Catra?” The girl clasped her hands in Catra, “Plus you have been there too right? You can help me! You can be my guide!”

“No way!  _ Great _ ?” Catra repeated, “No, this isn’t ‘great!’ What were you even thinking?” Glimmer cowered under Catra’s tone, “Shadow Weaver is obviously using you to get more power! Why can’t you see that? Plus, wasn’t she the one who killed your mom?!”

Glimmer stuttered, “Well yes, but she said that, that was because so I could rise up to power and use my potential to lead Etheria into a new era where magic is free. My mother could never do that! I’m the only one who is capable of doing so!”

The brunette grabbed Glimmer by the collar, “Your mother would  _ never _ be so  _ stupid _ to fall for Shadow Weaver’s manipulative tricks! Were you really that  _ idiotic _ to really think you were all what Shadow Weaver told you?!” Catra closed her mouth quickly and let go of Glimmer, who was on the verge of tears, “Glimmer I-”

The girl slapped Catra’s hand away and ran away from her. Catra cursed under her breath, she really screwed up.

  
  
  


Adora gently ran her fingers through Catra’s tangled mane as she listened to her lover? No… mistress? Whatever she was, Adora listened carefully as Catra rant as she laid down on her lap, “I mean, manipulation is Shadow Weaver's whole thing! Did she really think that she would lead Etheria into a new era? That’s just ridiculous.”

“I mean… from what it sounds, you were a bit too harsh on her don’t you think?” Adora said softly, Catra looked up at Adora’s gray-blue eyes but looked away just as quickly, “Plus… I mean, having the magic set free doesn’t sound too bad, is it?”

She sat up from Adora’s lap and paced around the guest room that they were currently staying in at Brightmoon, “Here’s the thing, we don’t know how magic works and if destroying the Heart, like what Shadow Weaver and Queen Glimmer said, would even actually unleash the magic,” she sighed, “Magic… magic is unpredictable, it’s wild, it could be dangerous, we don’t have enough information on magic to release it safely from the Heart of Etheria.”

Adora stood up and pressed her forehead against Catra’s, “Well… in my experience, all those things that you have described magic, things like that could be also very beautiful,” she gazed into Catra’s eyes and pecked her lips.

The shorter girl rolled her eyes playfully, “My queen, are you calling me unpredictable, wild, and dangerous?”

The blonde booped Catra’s nose, “I’m also calling you very beautiful.”

Catra sighed, “I mean… magic could be beautiful, but, my experience with it wasn’t quite pleasant,” she looked down at her hands, “I never wanted to bear the powers of a therianthrope,” she whispered.

Adora smiled and kissed Catra’s knuckles, “If the possibility of Glimmer releasing the magic to you scares you, maybe you should just convince her that it’s a bad idea.”

“I suppose you’re right, but she’s stubborn.”

“I know.”

The brunette laughed quietly and covered her right side of her face with her hand, “Though, it’ll be worth a try.”

  
  
  


Glimmer walked into the dungeon and looked down at Shadow Weaver, who was still currently all chained up. The girl squatted down in front of her so they could see each other eye to eye, “M-my queen, you came back! I hope your talk with Catra hasn’t changed your mind. Catra doesn’t fully understand the depth of magic and how useful it could be. How powerful the user could be.”

“No, she hasn’t, I’m still going to make it my mission to release the magic from Etheria.”

Shadow Weaver smiled hopefully at the queen, “T-that’s great-”

“But,” Glimmer glared at the woman, “I am not doing it for you. I’ll do everything I can to make sure you never get your hands on more magic!” She stood up and gave the woman one last glare and walked out of the room.

The woman frowned and snapped her fingers, shadows crept up from behind her, “Fine… is that how you want to play it? I’ll play your little game then, Your Majesty.”

  
  
  


Catra and Adora came running into the throne room where they saw Glimmer talking with her fiance, “Glimmer!” Catra said, she bowed before the queen, “I’m sorry, I said some insensitive things to you before. I would like to apologize, but I still think it’s a terrible idea to try to harness the magic from the Heart.”

“Stand up Catra,” Glimmer ordered, the brunette stood up and looked at Glimmer, “I forgive you, it was in the heat of the moment and I was acting irrational too. It was stupid of me to try to side with Shadow Weaver, and I understand that now.”

Adora smiled, “T-that’s great!”

Glimmer nodded, “Yes, but I am still going to unleash the magic from the Heart.”

Catra raised her eyebrows and looked at the girl in surprise, “W-what?! N-no you can’t do that! Magic can make one powerful, yes, but we don’t have enough information on it! Magic is wild, who knows what could happen to Etheria if you unleash magic that has been in slumber for ages! It could be catastrophic to the planet.”

Bow looked over at Glimmer and nodded, “Glimm… I think they’re right, it’s not worth it. I think it’s too risky.”

The blonde stepped forward, “Glimmer you’re mom wouldn’t-”

“Don’t talk about my mom!” Glimmer yelled, she stood up from the throne and looked down at Catra and Adora, “I am the Queen of Brightmoon! One of the strongest authority figures on Etheria, you all are  _ obligated _ to follow my orders!” She pointed at Catra, “Catra, you are going to be going with me to the Heart as my escort-”

“Wait!” Catra yelled.

The girl ignored her and continued talking, “And we are going to free the magic from the Heart of Etheria.

That’s an  _ order _ .”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DAMMIT GLIMMER DON'T USE THE QUEEN CARD ON THEM well at least she isn't really siding with shadow weaver anymore so that's a plus BUT DONT USE YOUR QUEEN CARD ON MY BABIES but there was a little bit of catradora fluff in the middle just to like not make this chapter too tense haha but in the beginning when shadow weaver was talking about mara to adora when i was writing it i was like i know im writing this but shadow weaver stay away from my baby adora anyways this was a pretty intense chapter (at least that was what i was going for lol) i hope you guys liked it and just a heads up i THINK that this story is coming to a conclusion soon! so just a heads up haha anyways feel free to comment down below and i hope you guys all have a good morning/afternoon/evening!


	17. the heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> glimmer takes catra, bow, and adora to the heart of etheria to free the magic

The beating sun shone down at Catra as she walked through the Whispering Woods to get to the Beacon. Flowers bloomed all around her and the dark trees towered, as she was walking. Usually, the brunette would admire the colorful flowers and wildlife around her, but she wasn’t exactly having the time of her life right now. 

“You guys didn’t have to go on this mission,” Glimmer groaned, Catra shot a look at the girl and frowned, “I could have gone myself but I needed Catra to help guide me,” Catra scoffed under her breath, she already knew that this mission was going to blow up in her face. But what could she do? She practically already lost her voice trying to be the voice of reason.

Adora and Bow trudged behind Glimmer, “Glimmer… we wanted to okay?” Bow spoke up, “We’re supposed to be there for you and protect you when something bad is going to happen. I  _ know _ something bad is going to happen on this mission!”

Glimmer turned around and snapped, “Nothing bad is going to happen! This mission is going to be full of good okay? We can help Etheria with this,” Catra rolled her eyes as she toned out the girl, she looked down at the map she was carrying and kept moving forward. Glimmer walked up to Adora and placed her hand on her shoulder, “But, I guess it’s a good thing that you guys came, so we can have front row seats to this new era with magic!”

The girl ignored her friend and pushed Glimmer’s hand away before she walked up to Catra, “Hey… you doing okay? You haven’t said anything since we departed for this mission,” the brunette just grunted in response and peered down at the map. Adora sighed and tucked a strand of hair behind Catra’s ear, “You can talk to me you know.”

“This is a terrible idea,” Catra grumbled, she shoved the map in her sack, “Can’t believe she used her authoritarian position on us,” she looked up at the sky and saw a light glint in the distance, “We’re getting close to the Beacon,” she muttered.

Adora laced her fingers with Catra and gave her a hopeful smile, “Hey, it’ll be alright, we can get through this together right?” She frowned to herself, “Hey Catra? Do you feel that? I don’t know how to describe it but… something feels wrong… supernatural even?”

Catra squeezed the blonde’s hand and sighed, “I told you, magic is unstable, if you can feel it already and it’s that strong, who knows what will happen if we just suddenly release it out into the world,” she grit her teeth, “I said  _ so _ many good points to my side of my debate, yet she is just so  _ stubborn _ !”

Glimmer and Bow ran up to the point of the group and pointed to a large tower, not too far off in the distance, “I assume that’s the Beacon?” Bow said. The four of them walked closer to the building and Catra grimaced as she looked up at the tower that loomed over them. 

She scoffed, “Let’s just get this over with.”

  
  
  


The inside of the Beacon was colorful, different shades of light reflected off of the futuristic walls, which glowed ominously. The group kept pushing forward their shadows behind them projected onto the purple-pink walls. Adora looked behind her and saw the light from the outside grow dimmer and dimmer as they ventured into the unknown.

Bow looked around, “This place is… made by the First Ones? All of this is First Ones technology?” Catra looked back and nodded, the boy smiled brightly, “That’s so cool! I didn’t know a place like this even existed! Maybe… I can get some parts and invent some more things! Wouldn’t that be great?”

“That sounds like a great idea Bow,” Adora smiled.

Glimmer smiled at her fiance, took a deep breath and walked up to Catra, “Hey… Catra, I would like to-”

The brunette paid no attention to her and just walked faster as they roamed around the corridors, “We should be here soon,” she muttered, Catra kept walking, turning her head each time they turned a corner. 

  
  
  


_ “This place gives me the creeps,” Catra groaned, “Plus, if this ‘Beacon’ has all of these technological advances, why didn’t any of the kingdoms find this place yet and make more developments? Don’t you find that strange Madam Weaver?” _

_ The woman looked down at her map, “I suppose so, but forget about that right now. The Heart of Etheria should be near,” she ran right into a wall and scowled, “W-what?! The map says that there should be a door here! Where is it?!” The woman examined the wall while Catra just tapped her foot impatiently. _

_ Catra scoffed, “Ah whatever. We need a door?” She drew out two blades and skillfully cut a giant hole in the wall, the girl smirked, “There’s your door. You’re welcome.”  _

  
  
  


She stared at the giant hole in the wall, it felt like only yesterday that she’s been here again with Madam Weaver. Catra frowned, what was she thinking about? Madam Weaver was gone already, corrupted by a power hungry hag named Shadow Weaver. The brunette hopped through the hole that she made years ago and looked in the distance.

The other three followed her and Glimmer looked at where Catra was staring at, “Woah… is that?”

“Welcome to the Heart of Etheria.”

  
  
  


_ Thump… thump… thump… _

The four of them stood in front of the Heart of Etheria which was shining in many holographic colors. No one said anything as they couldn’t find any words to describe the sight that they were met with. The sight was  _ ethereal _ with the magic gliding around the glowing core, disguised as small pieces of fuzz. There were multiple metal squares that enfolded upon itself to somehow contain the energy that had it siphoned the group. The Heart of Etheria was so breathtaking, yet so powerful and soon, that power was soon going to be theirs and be set free.

Glimmer giggled to herself as she brought her hand out and allowed one of the small floating pieces of fuzz to land on her. She took in a deep breath and gazed in the distance, “It’s so beautiful, if only you could see this Mom,” she wiped a tear that was poking out of her eye, “I’m going to free this magic and I’m going to make you proud of me,” she clenched her hand into a fist, “Just you wait.”

There was a pulsing coming from above them, and the ground underneath them started to tremble. Catra shielded her eyes as a flash of light appeared, “I admit, it’s pretty nice here. Come on,” she guided the others and they stood directly underneath the Heart whose beating rang in their ears.

Glimmer stared at the Heart, “How do I destroy this? Do we just fight it or something?” 

Catra inspected her nails and yawned, “I don’t know, why don’t you tell me Queen Glimmer? You’re the  _ only _ one who can do this right? You’re the  _ only _ one who can lead us into a new era of magic?” She started to laugh, “You don’t even know what to do! How can you even think that you could do all of that?” Glimmer glared at the girl, “You dragged me, Bow, and Adora all here when you don’t even know what to do. What a waste of time.”

A hand was placed on Catra’s shoulder and Adora whispered in her ear, “Look, I know you’re mad, Glimmer’s actions were unacceptable, but we’re her friends, we should help her.”

“I don’t even think I’m considered her friend,” Catra grumbled, she took in a deep breath, “But whatever, let’s just do this and go home.” They all exchanged looks and Bow took out his bow and arrows, Adora took out her mother’s sword, Glimmer raised her father’s old staff, and Catra took out her pair of daggers. Catra frowned, “This is dumb, look how small and weak we are compared to that!” She pointed at the giant Heart, “Let’s just go home I’m tired.”

Glimmer bit her lip, “Well… what if we can beat magic with magic?”

Catra turned around, “Glimmer… what are you going to do?”

“Just trust me on this okay?” The Queen of Brightmoon stepped closer to the Heart of Etheria and reached out both of her arms, “Shadow Weaver told me that you can absorb the magic if you just have contact with the Heart…” she stretched her arms towards the Heart.”

“Glimmer  _ no _ !” Bow yelled as he was running desperately towards his fiance.

The girl turned around and smiled at them, “Just trust me… I love all of you guys.”

Adora threw her sword to the side, “Glimmer no! What are you doing?!”

The brunette jumped forward to try to stop her, but it was too late. With a strong yell, Glimmer forced her hands into the Heart and another bright light shone, the magic was too strong and blew Bow, Adora, and Catra backwards. Adora and Bow crashed into the lower wall from the hole that they came in from, but luckily Catra held onto a rock and watched as Glimmer embraced the magic. 

Suddenly, everything went still, Catra looked behind her and saw Bow helping Adora, she noticed that her forehead was bleeding. Catra frowned and whispered to herself, “Bow is helping Adora right now, she’ll be fine,” she trudged up to Glimmer, “Glimmer! Are you okay?”

The cotton candy haired girl slowly turned around and softly smiled at her, “Y-yeah… I’m fine, it’s a bit overwhelming but-” beams of light started to flash out of Glimmer’s eyes and mouth. Catra covered her ears as she couldn’t stand to listen to the agonizing screams of the girl. 

“This is different…” Catra murmured. Back then, she clearly remembered the dark vines trying to consume Shadow Weaver, but with Glimmer,  _ this _ was happening instead. She observed as Glimmer’s veins started to glow a light pink and white color. Catra was petrified with fear, she didn’t know what to do, she couldn’t move. Why couldn’t she move?!

Still screaming in pain, Glimmer was taking deep breaths and was clutching her heart, “Ugh!” She exhaled and inhaled, again and again. Until, it finally stopped. Glimmer collapsed to the floor, still clutching her heart and groaning in pain.

Catra scurried to the girl and slid on her knees, “Glimmer! How do you feel?”

“Terrible…” she slowly stood up and clenched her fist, “But… powerful,” a glowing pink ball formed in both of Glimmer’s hands, “Woah… magic,” the girl smiled to herself and threw one of the glittering spheres at the Heart, which ultimately did no damage. 

Bow came over with an injured Adora who was leaning against him, “Adora!” Catra yelled, she grabbed her away from Bow and let her rest on her lap when she sat down, “Adora talk to me! Are you okay?!”

The girl shifted in Catra’s lap, “Hi Catra… I’m fine,” she smiled up at the brunette, “Were you worried about me? Nothing never happening to me, never.”

Catra raised an eyebrow at her, “Uh… Adora are you okay? You phrased that really weirdly.”

Smugly, Adora smiled again at her, “I may have a concussion,” Catra wiped the tears that were poking out of her eyes, leaned down and kissed Adora. She pulled back from the kiss to turn around and see Bow and Glimmer looking at them in surprise.

“What?”

Bow squealed with joy, “Are you two together?! Oh that is just so cute!”

Adora blushed and looked away from her staring friends, while Catra just rolled her eyes, “It was  _ really _ obvious, you two are just clods,” she sighed, “But that is  _ not _ the point right now! Glimmer use your magic and just destroy the Heart already, I need to get Adora back home quickly so I can let her rest a bit.”

She nodded, “Bear with me though, I’ve only had this power for like one minute so, here goes nothing,” Glimmer took in a deep breath and concentrated on her hands to try to form a giant energy sphere. Sweat dripped down the side of her head and she sighed, bringing her arms down, “Oh forget it, even with all of this magic, I’m still weak. Catra you were right, why did I even try?” 

The brunette carefully placed Adora’s head on the floor to rest and stood up. She took a deep breath and exhaled it out, “Look, those things I said… they were insensitive, I was frustrated that you weren’t listening to me about the dangers of the magic stored in the Heart, so I lashed out. I apologize again,” she stepped forward Glimmer and smiled at her, “You may be stubborn but that also means you never give up. So, be stubborn again and destroy that Heart already!”

“Catra…” Glimmer smiled.

The girl shrugged, “Don’t make it a big deal or anything okay? I’m still against all of the whole ‘free the magic’ thing and I think it’s dangerous, but go ahead, free the magic and make your mother proud. I  _ know _ she would be proud,” Catra gave the girl a thumbs up and she and Bow carried Adora away from her so they could stay a safe distance from Glimmer and the Heart.

Glimmer closed her eyes and let the magic just flow to her. She felt her hands start to heat up a bit, she peaked open one eye to check her progress, but quickly closed it. She needed to concentrate. The girl pushed her two hands together to form a bigger ball. With each passing second, the sphere grew bigger and bigger and finally with one clean yell, Glimmer threw it towards the Heart of Etheria,

The amount of energy Glimmer used made her collapse on the floor. Panting, she looked at the Heart, who was still standing, not a single scratch on it, “Seriously?! After all of  _ that _ nothing happened?!”

A white flash of light appeared and threw all four of them back, Glimmer slowly opened her eyes and saw more of the little puffs around the Heart, “Woah…” she quickly grabbed her friends hands, “Come on! We have to see if it worked!” 

They all ran out of the Beacon and stood on a hill which overlooked the area, Bow gasped in awe, “Woah…” he turned to Glimmer, “And we’re all alive! Glimmer you did it!” He brought his fiance into a hug and planted several kisses around her face.

Glimmer kneeled down and watched the sight numbly, “I… really did it huh?” she started to cry tears of joy and she looked up towards the sky, “Mom… Dad… can you hear me? Look at all of this, I wish you could see it all too.”

The brunette looked at the scenery, completely baffled, “Well… how about that, she really did it,” she laughed at herself, “Ah… I’m such a coward.”

Catra helped Adora close to her and the blonde shifted and started to stand up, she watched how livelier Etheria looked, “I-it’s beautiful,” she breathed out softly.

The girl wrapped an arm around Adora’s wasit, “It’s magic.”

“And it’s  _ all _ mine,” a voice said from behind them, Catra turned around and saw Shadow Weaver putting on half of her broken mask. The woman snapped her fingers and the shadows around her started to form and consume more of the magic little fuzz balls. She started to laugh,

“Hello Your Majesty.” 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fuck you shadow weaver. anyways wow this chapter was actually kinda bittersweet, at least that was what i was going for haha, glimmer thinking about her parents (mostly her mom sorry micah) and was like "im gonna make you proud" i thought that was kinda sweet idk about yall. catra being all negative because she's catra but ends up being a TAD more positive about the whole magic jumbo wumbo. adora has a concussion tho yeah, but if yes i did need in an adventure time reference there tell me if you guys found it haha, love that show. i hope you guys liked todays chapter if you guys can please comment your thoughts down below idk if i said it but im ALWAYS open to constructive criticism they are my favorite to get since im generally young and im still developing my writing and i want to be better and the constructive criticism really helps me so yuh if you guys have any you can comment down below haha. hope you guys enjoyed it and i hope everyone has a good morning/afternoon/evening!


	18. into the shadows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the best friend squad vs shadow weaver

Shadows swirled and formed around them while the woman cackled maliciously as she was sucking some of the magic out of the air. Shadow Weaver’s veins started to turn a dark purple and black, Catra clenched her teeth, “I should have known,” she muttered under her breath. 

Glimmer looked in disbelief at the woman, “You… used me,” she whispered, “I can’t believe this.”

“Wasn’t it obvious?” Shadow Weaver grinned, “I must thank you though, I couldn’t have gotten all of this without your naivety,” she formed a shadow ball in her hand, “Now, you can experience my new power first hand!” The woman yelled as she threw it towards the girl.

Catra yelled, “Glimmer!” The brunette jumped as she pushed Glimmer out of the way. She looked up at Shadow Weaver and bit her lip hard enough to draw blood, “You bastard! I’ll  _ really _ kill you this time!”

The woman laughed as she played around with the shadows, “You’ve always been a silly one Catra,” she formed a hand with the shadows and grabbed more magic that floated in the air. She took in a deep breath the more powerful she got, “What are you going to do? Turn into a little kitty for me?” She smiled, and the giant shadow hand was coming down on them, “I’m out of your league!”

“Everyone move! You’ll all get crushed!” Catra yelled, she turned her head and saw Adora struggling, “Damn!” Desperately, she ran towards her and shoved her out of the path of the hand. The brunette coughed and saw Bow and Glimmer cowering next to each other, “Bow! Shoot her down!”

Bow looked over at Catra and nodded. He started to take out his bow and arrow again, aimed, and shot a single arrow at Shadow Weaver. The woman instantly brought her hand up and the shadows cut the arrow split down in the middle, “Is that all you got?” Shadow Weaver laughed, “You’re  _ pathetic _ !” 

Catra patted her pockets and quickly threw a knife at Shadow Weaver for a distraction. She grabbed an unconscious Adora and ran over to the other side where Bow and Glimmer were. “What the hell are we going to do?!” Catra hissed, she looked down at Adora who was more injured than ever, “Adora is knocked out, and every second, Shadow Weaver is getting more magic and becoming more powerful than ever!” She pointed at Shadow Weaver in the distance whose shadows were collecting every ounce of magic that was available. 

Glimmer clasped the sides of her head with her hands, “This is all my fault… I was so dumb, of course I was being used! I’m no savior of Etheria, I’m not the one who can lead us into a new era! I’m nobody!”

The boy put a comforting hand on the girl’s shoulder, “Glimmer it’s okay-”

“No it’s not okay!” she snapped, “Don’t say it’s okay! Look at her! She’s becoming monstrous and it’s going to be the end of Etheria and it’s all my fault! I’m  _ useless _ ! I’m  _ nobody _ ! I’m  _ pathetic _ !”

_ SLAP! _

The cotton candy haired girl was thrown back, “Ouch! What the hell Catra?” she said, rubbing her cheek.

Catra glared down at Glimmer, “Damn right it’s all your fault!” Glimmer flinched at the girl’s tone, “I told you this was a bad idea and that Shadow Weaver was using you. But you didn’t listen to me because you were too damn stubborn! You roped me, Bow, and Adora into this disastrous mission, and look where that got us!” 

Bow walked over hestitanly to Catra, “Hey… isn’t this a bit much?”

“I know I screwed up-”

“Don’t talk over me!” Catra growled, “Adora is injured because of you! Shadow Weaver will probably destroy the world because of you!” the brunette laughed and squatted down to see eye to eye with Glimmer, “But, you’re not useless and there’s no way in hell I’m going to let you give up like this,” she said softly.

Glimmer’s eyes grew wide, “W-what?”

Catra stared at Shadow Weaver who was still busy collecting more magic, “Sure, you made a mistake. A really, really,  _ really _ big mistake,” she smiled wryly at Glimmer, “But you’re not useless, you’re a damn queen for Etheria’s sake,” she helped Glimmer up and sighed, “But it’s not entirely all your fault.  _ We _ are all responsible for this, so  _ we _ have to own up to our mistake and fix it. Got it?” 

The couple exchanged a look and smiled, nodding in confirmation at Catra. Glimmer rubbed her nape awkwardly, “I’m sorry all of this happened again,” she took a deep breath, “But, I’m…  _ we’re _ going to fix all of this, I promise.”

“Good,” Catra said.

Bow brought them into a warm embrace, “We can do this guys, we’re the Best Friend Squad.”

The brunette cringed, “Yeah… we’re not making that a thing are we?”

Glimmer shrugged, “I prefer the Glimmer Group.”

The boy chuckled and hugged them tighter, “ _ Nah _ , we’re the Best Friend Squad.”

Catra rolled her eyes playfully at the stupid nickname. She looked up at Shadow Weaver and then back at Glimmer, “Well, you have magic now right? Can you use it on her?”

Glimmer sighed and covered half of her face with her hand, “I don’t think I can, the blast that I used on the Heart of Etheria really drained me out,” she started to sway, but luckily Bow was there to catch her, “I feel really drained out.”

Bow whimpered, “Like your magic is gone?”

The girl shook her head, “Not exactly, I can still feel it, but it’s like I need to recharge it or something,” she sighed, “This is more complicated than I thought.”

Catra sighed, “Scratch that plan then,” worryingly, she looked back up at Shadow Weaver, “I’ll just handle it myself for now.”

The boy stood up defensively, “What about me and Glimmer? You don’t really plan on taking her on by yourself do you?”

She punched Bow’s chest, “Of course I do, Glimmer needs to rest so we can use her magic to our advantage. Adora is all beat up so we need someone to look after her while I’m gone. We also need someone who can come up with a strategy while I’m fighting that witch,” she poked the center of Bow’s chest, “I entrust you to do both, watch after Adora and come up with a plan. It’s the most important job right now while I play around with Shadow Weaver. Think you can do that?”

He chuckled, “Alright, alright, you sold me,” Bow wrapped his arms around a stunned Catra and whispered in her ear, “Stay safe okay?”

Catra smiled at him and scoffed playfully, “Heh, always am,” she drew out her daggers and ran off to confront Weaver. She sprinted up a hill and saw Shadow Weaver using her shadows to help her float in the sky as she was feeding on more magic, “Hey you  _ clod _ ! Ready to dance?”

  
  
  


Bow bit his fingernails anxiously as he paced back and forth trying to figure out a decent plan to stop Shadow Weaver. He ran his fingers through his hair and groaned when he saw how hopeless Adora looked as she was resting on the floor, “Come on, think Bow  _ think _ !” He jogged over to Glimmer who was sitting criss crossed with her eyes closed, “Feeling all magicy again? 

“Her body,” Glimmer whispered, “It looks all corrupted and seems like it’s deteriorating.”

He raised an eyebrow and looked up at Shadow Weaver. Low and behold, Glimmer was right, as he witnessed Shadow Weaver and Catra fighting each other, Shadow Weaver’s body looked corrupted. Her skin was cracking up and her skin was slowly turning a dark purple and black. Bow rubbed his chin as he observed that the woman’s skin was glowing ghostly. 

“I have a plan,” Bow announced.

  
  
  


Catra swiftly dodged the shadows that were being thrown at her, luckily, Shadow Weaver’s aim was worse than the Horde soldiers, “That’s all you got?” Catra taunted, “It’s not even fighting! You’re just making me dance!”

The woman was silent as she kept attacking Catra with her shadows left and right. Catra frowned and looked back at the direction the others were, “I can’t keep fighting her like this forever. Please have a plan soon.”

“Didn’t the Horde teach you to always pay attention to your opponent?!” Shadow Weaver laughed. Catra turned around and was hit in the chest with a jet stream of shadows, she flew back and her back hit a giant boulder, causing her to cough up some blood. “My, my,” Shadow Weaver said, “Looks like you lost your moves General Catra.”

The girl slowly lifted herself back up, “That’s where you’re wrong,” she smirked, “I’ve learned some new moves!” she suddenly kicked off the ground and started to sprint towards Shadow Weaver, swinging her blades in every possible direction. The woman was desperately trying to get away from Catra’s fury as she tried to use the shadows to protect her as a shield. 

Gracefully, Catra leapt off of the ground and aimed her blade towards Shadow Weaver, “Gotcha!” There was a tight squeeze around the brunette’s waist, she looked down and saw the giant shadow hand gripping her tightly, “Huh…?”

Shadow Weaver cackled, “ _ Gotcha _ .”

  
  
  


Adora rubbed her forehead as she slowly lifted her head from the floor, “W-what happened?” she looked up at Bow and Glimmer who were discussing, “Glimmer? Bow?”

The couple both turned towards her, “You’re awake!” Bow exclaimed.

Glimmer tightly hugged Adora, “Don’t scare us like that again! You hear me?”

“Y-yeah!” Adora choked out, “Loving this reunion, but you’re squeezing me too hard and I just had a concussion!”

Apologetically, Glimmer let go and smiled awkwardly. Bow stood up and gazed at the ominous dark hand in the distance, “There’s no time, Catra is fighting Shadow Weaver right now and she needs our help,” he helped Adora up, “Can you fight?”

The blonde nodded, “I think so, but what’s the plan?”

Bow grimace as he saw dark clouds churn in the distance, “I’ll fill you in on the way, let’s move!”

  
  
  


Catra yelled in agony as the shadow hand was squeezing the life out of her.  _ Damn it!  _ Catra thought,  _ Where are they? Do they not have a plan yet? Is this how I’m going to die?  _ She glared at Shadow Weaver who was focusing her attention on harnessing more magic,  _ Is this the clod who’s going to take me out? _

Tears started to well in her eyes,  _ I can’t die… I haven’t told her yet!  _

Footsteps were approaching and Catra looked down and saw Adora, Bow, and Glimmer, “Catra!” Adora screamed. Shadow Weaver focused her attention back on Catra and her friends, “You let her go!” The blonde yelled, “Catra! Come on fight it! You can do it!” She desperately yelled.

The woman laughed, “Here to see the show?” she smiled, “I also do find Catra’s death quite fascinating.”

Glimmer yelled, “ _ No _ !”

“Pipe down,” Shadow Weaver groaned, “You’re ruining the moment.”

Catra bit her lip as she tried to struggle out of the grip of the hand, “I’m  _ not _ going to die!” she choked. She looked down at Adora and met eyes with her, “Not when I never told her!” Shadow Weaver yawned and clenched her hand together, the thumb of the shadow hand started to press down on Catra’s head, “Adora,” she muttered, reaching her hand out to Adora, “I love you.”

The blonde’s eyes went wide as she heard Catra’s sudden confession. She extended her hand out towards Catra’s, “Catra get out of there!” Adora screamed miserably. 

_ SPLAT! _

The girl collapsed on her knees and started to sob, “No, no, no, no!” she pulled the ends of her hair, “This can’t be happening,” there was a thud on the floor in front of her and Adora peaked open her eyes and saw Catra standing right there. The blonde looked at her in shock, “ _ What _ ?”

Catra flicked her knife, “Phew, that was a close one, luckily I sliced out of there right in time.” Adora ran towards the brunette and tackled the two of them onto the floor, “W-woah, Adora?” She was immediately silenced by a kiss on the lips, “H-hey, I’m alright,” she blushed.

The girl moved the hair out of Catra’s face and smiled, kissing her on the corner of her lips, “Catra, I lo-”

“ _ Not _ the time lovebirds!” Glimmer scolded, “Shadow Weaver is right there!”

Shadow Weaver looked angrily at the four of them, “I’m not even upset that Catra didn’t die right then and there,” Catra and Adora got up from the floor and glared at the woman, “Because now you can all die in each other's arms like the lovely couples you are!” 

Bow, Glimmer, and Adora all exchanged glances, “Guys remember the plan okay?” Bow instructed.

“What plan?” Catra asked.

A stream of shadows was hurling towards them by an enraged Shadow Weaver, they all jumped away safely from it and Bow smiled at Catra, “Just dodge!”

  
  
  


_ “I have a plan.” _

_ Glimmer smiled, “About time.” _

_ The boy stared at Shadow Weaver who was still currently fighting Catra, “You saw how she just consumed all that magic right?” Glimmer nodded in response, “And she told you that story when she first got her powers and it almost destroyed her right?” _

_ “Where exactly are you going with this?” Glimmer asked curiously. _

_ Bow smiled, “Just hear me out, there’s no way that a human can hold all of that magic in their bodies. They must have a limit somehow,” Glimmer stared at Bow in confusion, he sighed, “Okay, for example, if you fill a creampuff up too much, the pastry will explode.” _

_ Glimmer gasped in amazement, “So what you’re saying is that, Shadow Weaver’s body is filled up with magic right now and we just have to bring out all of that magic so she can destroy herself?” _

_ He snapped his fingers, “Exactly, we’ll just all dodge her magic and taunt her in battle so she gets frustrated and uses all of the magic stored in her body, so she can possibly explode.” _

_ “Like a creampuff?” Glimmer smiled. _

_ “Like a creampuff,” Bow echoed. _

  
  
  


Glimmer gracefully dodged all of the shadows that were being thrown at her, she hid behind a rock and used a small amount of her magic to hit Shadow Weaver in the head, “Why don’t you get me you big dummy!” She taunted.

Catra raised an eyebrow and smiled. She threw one of her daggers at Shadow Weaver, who dodged it skillfully, “You clod! You say that you’re the most powerful being on Etheria, yet you can’t even beat four kids. Maybe you’re the pathetic one!” Shadow Weaver growled at her.

“Hey over here!” Adora yelled, throwing some rocks at Shadow Weaver, “Come and get me,” Shadow Weaver growled and sent bigger shadows towards Adora. The blonde got out her sword and cut them up.

Frustrated, Shadow Weaver forced all of the magic out of her body and attacked the four of them. She smiled victoriously as she drew them all back to cower behind boulders. Slowly, her body started to twitch, Catra peeked out from behind the boulder and saw shadows coming out of the woman’s fingers uncontrollably. The others followed Catra’s example and observed the woman. “W-what’s happening?” The four of them watched intensely as the magic started to come out of her hands, “N-no, stop it,  _ I _ control you!” she yelled. She forced herself to stabilize her magic, but the more she tried, the more unstable she got. 

The four realized it was over for Shadow Weaver now, her movements started to twitch more, it was clear that all of the magic she had consumed was too much for her. The woman always talked about being the strongest, but even she was too weak to handle this sensory overload. Adora clasped her hand over her mouth as all four of them witnessed Shadow Weaver’s skin cracking like porcelain china before it began starting to rot, purple and black marks bruising all over her skin. 

Catra didn’t dare to watch and stayed hidden behind a rock, squeezing her eyes shut. Even with her hands over her ears, she could still hear the dreadful sounds of Shadow Weaver screeching in pain. 

When the screaming stopped, Catra slowly opened her eyes and saw the little bright fuzzes of magic form around her. She got up and saw her friends around the spot where Shadow Weaver was standing before. The brunette walked up to her friends who were all circling Shadow Weaver’s robe which had a stream of the bright fuzzes coming out of it.

“Huh,” Glimmer hummed, “Well, she didn’t really explode like a creampuff… it was more like she flaked away.”

Bow chuckled and hugged his fiance, “We did it! We really did it! I can’t believe that worked!”

Glimmer kissed his nose, “Have more faith in yourself dear.”

Adora walked over to the edge of the cliff as watched as the dark clouds cleared up and the sun started to shine again. She smiled tenderly at the sight, “Adora?” a voice from behind said.

She turned around and saw Catra trudging up from behind her, Adora brought her hand out for Catra to take, “You really had me worried back there you know.”

The brunette laughed, “I’m not that easy to get rid of my queen.”

“Back then you said that you loved me?” Adora smiled smugly. 

Catra rolled her eyes as she tried to hide her burning blush, “You’re such an idiot.”

“I love you too,” Adora breathed out, Catra stared at her in disbelief and then pulled them into a soft kiss. They pulled away from each other and the blonde smiled as a piece of the bright fuzz landed on her fingers. She pushed hers and Catra’s foreheads together, “It’s over… she’s gone.”

“Good riddance,” Catra said, closing her eyes.

From behind them, Bow and Glimmer creeped towards them, they all tackled each other, laughing as they all landed safely on a soft grass bed. They all looked at the sky together and saw how the magic danced in the air. Glimmer sighed dreamingly as she witnessed the lovely scenery.

“I did it Mom.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow she's really gone YAYYYYYYY! as much as i LOVE fight scenes, i really didn't want this chapter to be a typical one i mean the ending to SW's demise could be somewhat cliche but i wanted to like make it so like it tells the readers that like power corrupts yknow? shadow weaver's death went full on voldemort and thanos with her flaking away, too bad she didn't explode like a cream puff tho like what glimmer and bow wanted, but hey, that was be messy haha LITERALLY. i lowkey liked catra slapping sense into glimmer when homegirl was having a full on breakdown, like we know you're hurting but now is not the time okay? again, catra and adora pulled a whole princess bubblegum and marceline with the whole, "monster crushes GF thing but GF is alive afterwords and then they pronounce their love to each other haha" but catra for real thought she was gonna die so she chose THAT moment to tell adora she loved her which i thought was kinda sweet idk about you guys anyways i hope you guys liked this chapter, this is actually the SECOND to last chapter so like tomorrow is going to be the last chapter of this story and yeah im getting sentimental since this whole thing was a rollercoaster. i hope you guys liked it and hope yall have a good morning/afternoon/evening! :)


	19. out into the light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> epilogue: etheria adapting to the new era of magic

Adora opened her eyes and looked around the room. Where exactly was she again? Why was her head pounding like crazy? She placed her hand on her head, “Bandages?” she muttered, she slowly shifted and sat up. 

“You’re up?” a voice said from afar. There was scurrying and Catra came over to Adora, “Hey you shouldn't be sitting up,” she said softly. Gently, she leaned Adora back down and pulled out a chair to sit on besides the bed. Catra brushed the stray hairs out of the blonde’s face and smiled.

The girl turned on her side and faced Catra, “What happened? Where am I?” she groaned as the pounding was getting stronger.

Catra raised her eyebrow, “You don’t remember?” Adora shook her head slowly and smiled sheepishly, she sighed, “After that giant fight with Shadow Weaver, I took you back to Eternia since you weren’t doing so hot. Madam Hope saw your condition and told me to watch over you for a while as she went to other neighboring kingdoms to get some medicine for you.”

The blonde stared at the ceiling as she recalled the fight. Catra held onto her hand, “You should really learn how to take care of yourself,” she muttered, “You have a giant concussion and your body is all banged up.”

“Well… now I know that I’m going to sore as hell tomorrow,” she joked, and she looked over and saw Catra grimace. Adora sighed, “Sorry… you’re right I should have been more careful and I shouldn’t have made you worry about me like that,” she bit her lip cautiously, “But you really worried me back there too, I thought you  _ died _ !”

Catra groaned into her hands, “I thought I was going to die too to be honest. It was a really close one I’m sorry.”

Adora squeezed Catra’s hand softly, “What matters is that you’re here now,” she opened the blanket and invited the brunette to come and cuddle with her.

Hestitanly, Catra got up from her chair, “You sure? What if I hurt you or something, you’re not in the prime condition for cuddling,” she laughed awkwardly.

“I’ll be fine,” Adora insisted, “Now come here, all the cold air is getting in,” Catra rolled her eyes playfully and snuck under the covers. Warm arms embraced Catra and she sighed in Adora’s scent. The brunette smiled and tucked her head into the crook of Adora’s neck.

The two girls stayed in that position for a while, but most of the cuddling time was the couple fighting over who was big spoon and little spoon. But regardless, Catra was thankful for this moment of peace, it seemed like forever since they had a calm moment like this. She allowed herself to sink into Adora’s arms and closed her eyes. 

  
  
  


It was three months after the downfall of Shadow Weaver and the start of a new era in Etheria where magic is to roam freely. It was safe to say that this new era was allowing Etheria to flourish more than before. Though magic was all over the planet now, not everyone was capable of controlling it. 

Together, the Princess Alliance made a system where the rulers of the kingdoms would have the help of magic to be able to protect their citizens if they wanted to. Not only that but, Glimmer’s aunt, Castaspella and other scholars who studied magic, created a new kingdom called Mystacore. Mystacore was a place where gifted individuals could learn to control magic and make sure that their magic was for the greater good. They explicitly made sure that the students there won’t become corrupted and abuse their new powers.

Technology wise, Etheria has been doing well too, with the help of Princess Entrapta of Dyl, her and Bow were able to extract some of the technology from the Beacon to create more experiments together. Princess Entrapta was finally able to get the missing pieces she needed to create her invention of the automobile to replace the use of horses and carriages. It was clear that with the new era now bloomed, Etheria was doing better than ever.

  
  
  


Hand in hand, Catra and Adora walked up the steps of Brightmoon, they walked into the throne room to greet their friend. Glimmer walked down the steps of her throne and hugged the couple, “It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other! With all of these new changes, everyone’s been so busy.”

“Didn’t think you’d miss me that much Sparkles,” Catra said, nudging an unamused Glimmer.

“That’s  _ Queen _ Glimmer to you Catra,” the girl huffed.

The burnette shrugged, “Whatever you say Queen Sparkles.”

Adora laughed as she was holding back an enraged Glimmer who was ready to throw hands, “It’s nice that we have this mini gathering with just the Princess Alliance, it’s been a while since we’ve all been in the same place, without having serious meetings.”

Catra smiled to herself, “I can’t wait to see Scorpia again, I never got the chance to visit her. I wanna know how the Fright Zone is doing now anyways.”

The main doors opened up and Mermista, Seahawk, along with Frosta came walking into the room. Mermista yawned and patted Frosta’s head, “Maybe I should like retire my kingdom and become a full time babysitter.” 

Frosta huffed, “I’m like  _ twelve _ now! I don’t understand why I need to be escorted here.”

Seahawk wrapped his arm around Glimmer, “I’m  _ so _ glad we have this party together! Maybe now I can retell my tales about how my dear Mermista and I shot down ten whole Horde Ships back when we were retaking the Fright Zone!” He smiled confidently, “It’s quite the story I must say.”

Mermista groaned loudly and punched her boyfriend’s back, “You didn’t even do anything! All you did was say one command before you curled up in the corner since you told me the canons were too loud.”

The boy ignored her and started to rant about the wonderful tales and adventures that he had to a slightly uncomfortable Glimmer. Again, the main doors swung open and Perfuma and Scorpia came walking in linking arms. “Oh man, are we late? Did the party already start? Sorry that we’re late, Perfuma and I were busy,” Scorpia smiled awkwardly.

Glimmer shoved Seahawk away from her, “No, no you guys are right on time.”

Catra trudged up to Scorpia awkwardly, “Hey Scorpia.”

“Catra!” the girl exclaimed, bringing her into her usual tight bearhug, “Oh  _ man _ ! How are you? It’s been so long! Sorry I haven’t visited me and Perfuma was way too busy cleaning up the remains of the Horde back in the Fright Zone!”

The brunette tensed up and was trying to squirm her way out of Scorpia’s iron grip, “Y-yeah, that’s great Scorpia,” her face was turning red as the girl was squeezing her life out of her, “M-mind if you put me down though? I think my organs are going to pop,” she wheezed.

Immediately, she fell onto the floor and was gasping for air, Scorpia rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly and chuckled, “Heh, sorry about that, I guess I got carried away.”

Adora helped Catra up and she smiled at her friend, “No, it’s alright, you give great hugs.”

“That I know,” Scorpia said smugly.

The couple walked over to Glimmer who was waiting for Bow to show up, “Where  _ is _ he?” she sighed.

The blonde placed her hand on Glimmer’s shoulder, “Hey don’t worry, he’s probably just busy right now with Princess Entrapta, you know, working on experiments and all. He’ll show up soon.”

Catra nodded, “Yeah, come on, it’s not like a big gala or anything, but these are all of our friends! Let’s go talk to them or something, have  _ some _ fun Sparkles,” she said, tugging on Glimmer’s arm.

The cotton candy haired girl sighed, “Alright, alright,” Catra and Adora smiled at each other and the three of them walked back to where their other friends were. While walking back, Glimmer bumped into Frosta on the way, who was looking at her completely starry eyed, “Oops! Sorry about that. Hey Frosta.”

The little girl smiled brightly, “Can you tell me about your battle with Shadow Weaver again and how you freed the magic?” she sighed dreamingly, “I  _ never _ get tired of hearing that story, when I grow up I’m going to be just like you!” 

Glimmer blushed at the compliment and put her hands on her hip smugly, “Well… since you insisted, why not?” Frosta squealed in glee, “We were at the Heart-” the door swung open and Bow and Entrapta came running in holding more spare parts from the Beacon.

“Sorry we’re late! I had to drag Entrapta out of the Beacon!” Bow panted.

The woman beside him giggled with glee, “It was just so technologically advanced in there! Could you blame me?” she wandered around the room, “Ooh… another social experiment! How  _ exciting _ ,” she pulled out a pen and paper from her pocket, “Now don’t mind me I’m just going to observe all of you.”

Bow walked towards Glimmer and pulled her into a hug, “Did you miss me?”

“Very much,” Glimmer said, kissing his cheek. She turned to everyone, “Well… all of us are here now, so I suppose we can just continue hanging out now!”

Mermista groaned, “That’s what we’ve been doing!”

The rest of the night was filled with a lot of chaotic energy, an unlikely, likely pair, Catra and Mermista, met each other formally and spent most of the night making fun of Glimmer, Adora, and Seahawk. There were a couple of times where Glimmer would joke about banning them from Brightmoon, but hey, that was just casual friends bonding! After a long night, Catra and Adora got into their carriage and set a course back to Eternia.

  
  
  


Catra leaned on the railing of her and Adora’s balcony, she watched the sky and saw how well the magic danced in the air along with the stars shining above them. A familiar pair of arms came from behind her, “That gathering took quite a toll on me” Adora whispered, “It’s getting late, do you want to head to bed soon?”

“In just a moment,” Catra mumbled, “I’m enjoying the view.” The blonde stood besides Catra and watched the night sky with her in a comfortable silence, “Is it weird that I miss Shadow Weaver a bit?” Catra blurted out, Adora raised an eyebrow, “Back in the Horde, she was somewhat of a mother figure towards me, believe it or not, she was actually kind. Then I rose the ranks and became a general while she was my trusty advisor. We did everything together and we actually were quite close friends,” Catra frowned, “When I saw the magic almost consume her the first time we journeyed to the Heart, I noticed that she changed, but I didn’t want to address that because I thought that my old friend could still be in there… but then she betrayed me and took over the Horde.”

“I always knew that someday she might betray me since she was acting strange and more power hungry, but because of our old friendship, it disgusted me that I thought that way about her,” she smiled wryly, “I was right though, she  _ did _ betray me in the end.”

Adora held onto Catra’s hand and rubbed it soothingly, “I don’t necessarily know what you’re going through in that way, but I know what it feels like to lose someone you were close with. I lost my mother in the war and you lost your friend to the dark magic and the lust more power,” she smiled at her, “It hurts, but I think you just have to accept it. You can still miss her, but you just have to accept that what is done is done.”

Catra nodded, “You know, you’re right,” the brunette said.

Adora turned her head and saw Catra gazing in the distance, “About acceptance?”

“Yes, but also about the magic.”

“What do you mean?” 

The girl sighed, “Remember when I was saying that magic could be dangerous and unstable?” Adora nodded, “Yet you said that those things could have a beautiful side to it too?” Catra smiled at her partner, “You were right about that, magic really  _ is _ beautiful and not just destructive.”

“I’m glad you had a change of mind,” Adora muttered, kissing the corner of Catra’s lip.

Catra turned away from Adora and continued to watch the scenery, “I only thought that way because I wasn’t quite fond of my first experience with magic all those years ago,” she sighed, “I  _ never _ wanted to be a cat, I know I don’t necessarily  _ have _ to use my powers, even when I did master using it; but it’s just the feeling that I could have almost lost myself to magic like Shadow Weaver that worried me.”

The blonde listened closely to Catra’s rant, “I was so scared when I saw Shadow Weaver almost be consumed with the dark magic on our first visit to the Heart, I always wondered, what if that happened to me? So, I became scared of magic,” she laughed dryly, “Then I saw what  _ actually _ happened to Shadow Weaver when the magic destroyed herself. I thought again, that could have been me.”

Adora clasped her hands in Catra’s, “That could have been you, yes, but you’re not like Shadow Weaver. You’re not power hungry like her, you’re kind, compassionate, caring, you’re  _ Catra _ ! You’re  _ nothing _ like Shadow Weaver.”

She smiled at her words, “Thanks, I know that now,” Catra turned her head and kissed Adora softly, “I love you.”

The taller girl twirled a strand of hair with her fingers and blushed, “I love you too.”

Together, they continued to watch the scenery and Adora rested her head on Catra’s shoulder.  _ You know,  _ Catra thought to herself,  _ I always hated myself that I was such a coward when it came to magic. I hated that I was a therianthrope but-  _ she looked down at Adora who was smiling up at her and kissed her temples. I _ suppose being a cat wasn’t too bad,  _

_ I met you didn’t I?  _

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAANNNNDDD THAT'S A WRAP FOLKS!!! oh my god this whole thing was a roller coaster of emotions, for me too since this was a totally different au than what i usually write haha (i usually write modern aus and stuff yuh) i cant believe this story has already come to an end it has been a wild 19 days of writing and uploading. i want to thank all of you guys because without all your support i dont think i would have had enough motivation to keep writing everyday. i really appreciate your comments especially the constructive criticism since again im generally young and im still learning everyday to improve my writing skills! i hope you guys enjoyed this epilogue, though this story didnt have a lot of catradora moments and it was more like magic and stuff like that, my favorite couple did have their moments did they? anyways THANK YOU guys all again i appreciate every kudos, hits, comments, etc that you guys give to this story! SO for the FUTURE : i AM planning on writing more stories starting in the next year (ill probs upload another work on Jan 3? at least around that time) i want to take a short break for the rest of the year and yeah i hope you guys could maybe stay tuned and check out the future stories that i will be planning to write! anyways, hope you guys enjoy the holidays and i will hopefully hear from you guys next year! I love you all :)


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